My Story's Ending
by firefox369
Summary: After reuniting with his friends, Riku finds himself face-to-face with a girl he met while wandering in the darkness. When her soul disperses, he goes on a journey to put the pieces of her shattered spirit back together, no matter how suicidal it seems.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, Inuyasha, or any other game, movie or company I may have missed. Don't sue!

My Story's Ending

Prologue

firefox369

_A young man sighed as he shut his eyes in the darkness that surrounded him, lifting a strip of white cloth over his teal eyes and tying it around his head in a makeshift blindfold. The cloth was ragged, but it would do. He had to keep his gaze away from the light if he intended to accomplish his task. The duty set before him was daunting, but he was positive that he would be able to do it. He would do anything to protect his friends from the horrible fate that awaited them._

_"What you're doing isn't necessary" a voice whispered softly and the male slowly turned around. He felt as if he were going to fall into the darkness, not knowing where he was going or where he was looking. Becoming accustomed to the sudden loss of his sight was going to take some work and effort._

_"Who are you?" the teenage boy, Riku, demanded, feeling the power thickening in his hand as he called forth his blade. The voice was soft and feminine, but he could not let his guard down. No sane person would come to the World of Darkness just to strike up a conversation with its occupants._

_"Why don't you take off your blindfold and see?" she teased. He heard a light giggle as his keyblade formed in his right hand, and he took his fighting stance. His eyes squeezed shut in concentration as he tried to sense where the girl could be._

_"Kagome? What are you doing here?" a higher pitched voice asked. The boy felt the king touch his arm, telling him to relax. He grudgingly obeyed, standing to his full height, long, silver hair following his movements._

_"I should be asking you the same, King Mickey" the girl replied. "Don't you have a galaxy to rule?"_

_"There's been a slight problem" the King answered vaguely. It was obvious that he knew the girl before them, but did not trust her with all of the secrets regarding the state of the worlds._

_"Ah. Darkness is causing havoc, then?" Though Riku could not see her, he was sure that her eyes were glittering with mirth if the tone of her voice was a reliable source for his deduction._

_"Why are you here, Kagome? Last time I saw you, you were turning some strange creature to dust. Didn't you say you were a holy being?"_

_"Why, I am, King Mickey. I'm shocked though, to see that you haven't noticed the strangely small number of heartless and nobodies chasing after you."_

_"You've been following us?" the silver-haired boy demanded, clearly not liking the thought of not knowing some stranger was trailing them, unnoticed by the powerful pair of keyblade masters._

_"I guess you could call it that, though I think 'protecting' sounds much nobler, ne?" The girl sighed, shaking her head. Though King Mickey could only see her silhouette, her bedraggled state of clothing worried him. Sure, he didn't know her that well, but she had protected them thus far. The girl could be trusted, couldn't she?_

_The King cast a fire spell, fighting to keep the flickering flame in his hand as the meager light lit up the surrounding darkness a minute amount. Just enough to see Kagome's scarred body and fatigued, but bright, sapphire eyes. Her hair was a mess, most likely a result of not having taken care of it for an extended period of time, and her strange clothing (the King remembered her telling him it was a "school uniform") was shredded beyond repair. All of her scars seemed extremely old, and no fresh wounds marred her body. Her long bow was slung across her back, along with a small quiver of arrows. There was only one arrow left, the soft plumes of its sorrowfully decorating the area above her quiver alone._

_"I was hoping you'd let that idea skip your mind, King Mickey" the girl laughed bitterly, looking away from the flickering light._

_"So you finished your quest? The jewel is gone?" the King asked, dispersing the small flame and returning them to total darkness. After seeing the jovial girl in such a haggard form, he could not help but open his heart to her._

_She laughed again. "No, it is not, and I've lost everything in my quest to destroy it."_

_"That means... Inuyasha, was it?"_

_"Yes, Inuyasha."_

_"He chose-"_

_"Dead." Kagome noticed the uncomfortable silence that fell over the trio, and knew that the King was silent in his moment of mourning. The hanyou and the King hadn't gotten along very well, but they came out of their momentary companionship unharmed. "His death was quick and painless."_

_"No death is painless" Riku commented and he heard the girl laugh through her nose._

_"No, I suppose not" she agreed._

_"Would you like to join us in our search for the light, Kagome?" the King offered, knowing her answer even before she responded._

_"I would really like to, but I can't at the moment. I have something to look for. No, it is not a way to purify the jewel." The last part was an afterthought, as she sensed the question clinging to the tip of the King's tongue._

_"You might find it on the way to the door of light" Riku suggested but the girl declined once again._

_"What I'm looking for will be far from the light, in the opposite direction, in fact."_

_"What are you looking for?"_

_Riku felt King Mickey place his gloved hand on his arm, and Riku knew at that moment that he had asked too much. They had told Kagome of their plans of their own volition, without her asking. Although it was proper mannerism for her to return the information, King Mickey seemed to know that the subject was taboo, and was not to be brought up around the girl. Riku began to regret asking her, but his curiosity was really making him fidget with need._

_"I'd rather not talk about it."_

_"I underst-"_

_"But if you must know, I'm looking for myself. She's quite fond of the darkness and loves to hide in it. If you see her on your way, bring her to the light for me, okay?"_

_"This is an odd request, Kagome" King Mickey stated. "If we bring her to the light, how will you find her?"_

_Kagome laughed a melodic sound. "Don't you worry about that. Trust me, I'll know. You should probably get going if you intend to save your friends and galaxy."_

_"It was nice to see you again, Kagome" the mouse breathed, squinting his eyes slightly in worry. He got ready to leave, gently prodding Riku to get rid of the Keyblade in his hand. It disappeared with a bright flash, illuminating Kagome's weakened body one last time. Once again, the King found himself pitying the massive change in her physical health. He could only imagine the damage dealt to her mentality and emotions._

_"Your sentiments are reciprocated, my King" she said reverently before he saw her sweep down in a long, graceful bow. As she straightened her back, she saw the two making their way through the darkness, leaving her alone once again. Seeing the boy's silver hair swaying back and forth with his steps made tears cloud her eyes in remembrance. Before she could stop herself, she shouted a "wait!" She could sense the hope emanating off them in waves, and she so desperately wanted to join them, but she had other business to attend to. "How old are you, Riku?" she questioned._

_"I never told you my name" he murmured slowly. Kagome and King Mickey smiled knowingly._

_"How old are you?" she repeated._

_"Fifteen."_

_Kagome's gaze took a sad turn and the haze of tears in her eyes struggled to break free._

_"Take care of yourself for me. Don't keep that blindfold on too long, lest your beautiful teal eyes turn red in the sun."_

_"How do you know what color my eyes are?"_

_"Riku" the King whispered and the teenager hesitated before letting his question hang in the silence unanswered. _

"_Oh, Riku, I suggest you follow the rust-haired girl's orders. Kairi, I believe, is her name."_

_A chill sparked down his spine at the thought of what other things she knew about him and his friends, wanting to know about their future, but dared not ask. He turned and followed after the King, expecting the experienced warrior to answer him in her stead. He was not disappointed. The moment they had disappeared from her sight and hearing, the King turned to the younger male and looked up at his blindfold. "She is not as innocent as she seems, Riku. It is not a good idea to mess with her."_

_"Who is she?"_

_"Kagome Higurashi, a young priestess that has overcome the flow of time. She saved her world from collapsing upon itself, and saved the rest of the galaxy in the process."_

_Riku didn't think she sounded too bad, but knew that the King's warning must have held some merit, and remained silent in order to let the King continue speaking._

_"After she saved her world, part of her heart became consumed with darkness as a result of the death of her enemy, Naraku. They balanced each other out, and with Naraku's death, the balance was shifted in favor of light. To return the world to its natural state, the Fates allowed darkness to consume half of her soul. She was still a holy being, and could still purify her homeland, but hatred and disgust threatened to overcome her feelings of tranquility and happiness."_

_"She's like any normal person" Riku finally interrupted. Everyone's heart held some amount of darkness, and most were split cleanly in half. What made her position so different?_

_"While her heart may be average, her soul isn't. All people have souls that are neither pure nor corrupt, and simply exist. Kagome's soul, however, was being swallowed by the darkness. Not knowing what else she could do, Kagome somehow managed to merge her holy powers with her soul, effectively splitting her spirit in half, as well. She explained to me, before I left, that the soul is like a barrier that keeps us from seeing our fate but the two sides of her soul are constantly vying for dominance. When one portion gains the upper hand a rip is formed between the light and dark. She can see small portions of her future in the time it takes for the soul to heal, which is probably why she knew you eye color and your name. Kagome most likely saw you in her future."_

_"Then why didn't she know my age?"_

_"I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that the Riku she saw was an older one, a you that has aged by a few years. Eventually, we'll either we'll see her while she's living or her dead soul will see us before it passes on."_

_-----------_

Riku gazed at his reflection in the mirror and sneered in disgust. Yes, he had chosen this form, but the very sight of himself made him want to run himself through with his keyblade. He could not stand it.

"Sora's made it to the Castle That Never Was, Riku" a low, rumbling voice informed and the silver-haired man sighed, glaring at his reflection one last time. "You should go visit your friend, don't you think?"

"He'll survive on his own well enough."

"Riku, we need to help him!" a feminine voice argued and he turned to face his childhood friend. Her strawberry-colored hair brought out the annoyance and determination flaming in her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips. "I don't care how dangerous it is, so don't start up that big long speech; I couldn't care less about it! Sora needs our help and that's that!"

Sometimes Kairi could be so stubborn. Didn't she know that her brown-headed little boyfriend would kill him if he knew that she had been harmed while under his care? Riku wasn't blind. The affection between Kairi and Sora was high and continued to rise. Riku voiced his worries about her ability to protect herself but she continued to stand her ground and scowled up at him.

"You've been training me for the past month. I think I can fight off a few overgrown frog-crickets" she retorted, punctuating her statement with a sharp jab to his chest. He glared up at the red-masked man when he heard him laughing. Riku was not amused. Neither was Kairi, but the laughter from the man behind her convinced her that she was starting to get somewhere with the thick-skulled, silver-haired man in front of her.

"Kairi, you need to consider what'll happen if you die, or if Sora sees you injured."

"And _you_, Riku, need to consider what'll happen to your poor offspring if you don't let me come along."

Riku sighed, shutting his eyes and gently clapping his hand over his face. Kairi had never resorted to threatening his physical wellbeing before, and for her first threat to be to his reproductive organs made the thought even more frightening. He was torn choosing between his possible children (or lack thereof) and her possible death. The outsider's laughter did not help, and only served to aid a huge migraine in the making.

"Come on, Riku. We all know you want to keep your balls safe."

"Kairi" he sighed and she smirked.

"Bring me along. You _know_ you want to!"

"Have you forgotten my suggestions so soon, Riku?" a familiar voice echoed in his mind, but he ignored it. The voice was most likely a figment of his imagination.

Riku eventually gave in after another ten minutes of arguing, knowing that he was fighting a losing battle. As the group of three left their hideout, they didn't notice a pair of bright, sapphire orbs gazing at their backs.

"Stubborn Riku… at least you followed one of my suggestions" the figure giggled before it, too, disappeared into a swirling, white vortex. Some last minute preparations still needed to be taken care of.

_A young man wearing a dark cloak stepped back into the World of Darkness, feeling the cool air chill the skin beneath the cloth of his black robes. A black blindfold covered his eyes under the cover of his hood, a few locks of long, silver hair cascading over his shoulders and laying gently across his collarbone. Even though he could not see, he could feel a strange presence making its way to his side. The presence was weird, but it was also soothing and strangely familiar._

"_So, you've come back to the darkness, I see."_

"_And you still haven't returned to the light."_

"_I haven't found her yet, you know. After all these months of wandering, she's still out of my grasp. I can feel her at the edge of my senses, but I can't seem to reach her."_

"_I would help you, but I'm busy at the moment" Riku stated, facing the girl beside him. "How old are you?"_

"_The same age as you." He could hear the smile in her words. "As for your help, I'd accept, but I doubt a blind person could help me find something only a holy being can feel. My soul is timid, as well. I don't think she would take very well to a stranger."_

"_Would you like to join me in my search, then?"_

"_Depends. What are you looking for?"_

"_Honestly, I'm not exactly sure myself."_

"_Huh. Didn't King Mickey tell you to stay away from me? I'm sure he must have told you of my past and my instability."_

"_With the dark half of your soul running around, I doubt I have much to worry about with your good portion here" Riku replied smoothly, smirking when he heard her laugh._

"_I never thought about it that way, you know. Sure, I'll travel with you, at least until you find what your looking for."_

_Riku nodded and started walking away when she suddenly grabbed his arm. Her hand trembled suddenly, and he began to worry about his decision to let her come along when she tightened his grip. It was painful, but he fought back a yelp of pain, and was all too grateful when her grip slackened._

"_Don't stay in the darkness too long, Riku."_

"_Or my eyes will be red when I next gaze into the light. I know."_

"_Believe in Sora. He's your friend, and he'll continue to love you no matter how much you change."_

"_What are you going on about?" Riku pondered aloud before starting to walk away. "Come on, we're going to have to hurry if you want me to leave quickly."_

"_Promise me you won't give in to the darkness, no matter what happens?" Kagome pleaded quietly as she chased after him. He scowled in confusion. Not quite sure what she was talking about, he nodded. Riku wasn't planning on giving into the darkness, anyway, so he thought that her concerns were misplaced. Knowing she may have foreseen his future, though, he placed the foresight in the back of his mind, converting it to memory._

_----------------------------_

"Ansem!" Sora cried in horror when the man appeared in front of him, Kairi at his side. His hood fell in the midst of battle, and Sora now gazed into the reddened eyes of his former worst nightmare (the new bad guy threatening to destroy the world replaced him as the monster of his dreams. Ansem was no longer much of a threat, considering he beat him before, and was more of an annoyance than anything). "Step away from him, Kairi!"

"Sora!" the girl cried in jubilation, easily pulling herself away from the silver-haired man and racing to the brunette's side. Sora watched in confusion. Wasn't Ansem supposed to taunt him and threaten him with Kairi's life on the line? Why would he just let her race to his side without a care? "Come on, Riku, why aren't you saying 'Hi?' It's been so long since we've been together as a group and all you do is stand there and stare!"

Kairi stuck her tongue out at the man and Sora paled, fearing what he might do to her because of the rude gesture.

Wait. Riku?

"Kairi, there's no way that's Riku."

Kairi pouted and stepped away from Sora. "I though you, of all people, would recognize your own rival and childhood friend, Sora. Can't you see him?"

"All I see is Ansem."

"Shut your eyes and look hard. You'll see him, I promise."

Sora hesitated before obeying. Slowly his eyes fluttered close and he focused as hard as he could to find the remnants of his dear friend within the large body of his enemy. An image began to make itself known in the darkness of Sora's shut eyes. The form was faint and blurry at first, a simple, glowing smudge against the dark backdrop, but steadily became clearer and clearer until a blindfolded, and much older, version of his friend came into view. The long hair was past his shoulder blades and layered, the young body had matured over the long years, and his friend had grown quite tall.

But Sora really did miss seeing those teal eyes. Why were they covered?

His eyes snapped open when the full force of the image hit him, and he stared at the cold, aloof form of Ansem.

"Riku?" he breathed. "Riku, is that really you?" The man looked away, as if ashamed, and Sora felt tears fill his eyes. "You really are Riku, aren't you?"

"Sora" the man nodded slowly in greeting, smiling a smile that only Riku could pull off. The brunette laughed, ecstatic. He finally found his long lost friend.

--------------------

_Riku felt the dread enter his heart when he felt his companion suddenly disappear from his side and land on the ground a few meters away. He could not sense the presence that knocked her over, but could hear Kagome's muffle screams beneath the weight of a malignant hand._

"_Kagome!" he cried, trying to help her, but was knocked away by some sort of barrier. He summoned his keyblade into his hand and slashed at the barrier, but his blade ricocheted off the strange wall, the vibration numbing his hand and making him drop his blade. A moment later, he felt the sword reenter his hand and he tried again to suffer the same results. "Kagome!" he shouted again. Riku felt completely helpless, blind to the evil force separating the two and unable to reach the being hurting Kagome within the confines of the barrier._

_If he gave himself to the darkness, though, if he merged with it, he would become stronger. He would be strong enough to rescue Kagome, strong enough to break the barrier, and strong enough to dispel the evil wraith waiting within._

"_Don't give in!" Kagome begged before her voice was muffled once again._

"_I…" he whispered, lowering his head and tightening his grip on his blade. "I have to."_

"_No!" she screamed, watching as Riku allowed himself to be consumed by the darkness of the world. The dark tendrils crept over his body before Kagome's very eyes, surrounding and covering him in a cocoon of shadows. The pod expanded and pulsed as the body within its confines changed and shifted. Tears rolled down her cheeks when she knew that her vision had come true. Riku had stayed in the darkness for far too long. But still, she hoped and prayed that he would somehow change his mind and reverse the effects of the transformation._

_The cocoon dispersed in a flourish of blackened feathers, exploding and allowing the soft plumes to rain down and gently land on the dark ground. Riku's entire body changed. His hair was longer, the bangs shifted out of his eyes and onto the top of his head. His face was more angular, more menacing, and his body was considerably more muscular. He was taller, as well, easily towering over Kagome's short stature. What worried Kagome most, though, were his eyes. When he cast a spell to break the barrier, lighting up the area for a short moment, she saw that the soft teal head changed into a haunting crimson._

_As the other half of her soul decided to merge with her rather than face an unfortunate end, Riku knelt beside Kagome and helped her into a sitting position. Her entire body trembled as she fought back her tears, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head. _

"_No…" she sobbed, "No, no, no, no!"_

"_Kagome" Riku murmured, trying to soothe her, but his voice was foreign to his ears, and his body was awkward as he moved to gently stroke her back in comforting circles._

"_This wasn't supposed to happen! You promised me this wouldn't happen!"_

"_Kagome..." Riku began but knew it was hopeless when Kagome continued to sob, the fat tears rolling down her face._

_"You promised that you wouldn't let the darkness take you, Riku!"_

_"I couldn't leave you to die!" he suddenly shouted, grabbing her arms and forcing them away from her face as he shook her. It was the first time he saw her face, and her expression was not the first thing he wanted to see. His sudden change in composure, the sudden turn to anger, terrified the young woman. She stared at him, eyes wide with terror as she bit back a cry from his painful grip on her upper arms. He could tell that if she were cleaned up, she would be a stunning young woman. But his random anger contorted his view of her. All he wanted was for her to understand the terror that gripped his heart when he realized that he could not protect her from herself. "I had to change to keep you alive!"_

_"R-Riku" she stammered, but he didn't seem to hear her._

_"I never meant to break my promise, but god damn it, Kagome, I didn't want to sit around and do nothing!"_

_"You're hurting me!" she interrupted him, screaming in agony and sorrow. As if breaking out of a trance, Riku finally realized his death grip on her arms and quickly pulled his hands away from her body. Dark, violet bruises were already beginning to form where his hands refused to relinquish their hold, and guilt ate away at his heart._

_"I'm sorry" he whispered, looking at his hands in confusion and horror. He was never this strong before._

_"This is why I didn't want you to do it! The darkness is tainting your heart and eating you alive!" she shouted, the tears once again rolling down her face. "If you don't find a way out of your form soon, you'll be stuck like this for the rest of your life!"_

_"So be it" he sighed, lowering his hands. "If this is my fate, then let it be."_

_"No" Kagome hissed and Riku gazed at her, shocked. Her voice never held so much conviction. "I will find a way to return you to normal, if it's the last thing I do."_

_"Why?"_

_"Go back to the light; it might be able to postpone the permanent shift."_

_"Kagome, you never-"_

_"Go, Riku."_

_"You never answere-"_

_"Go!"_

_He hesitated before slowly getting to his feet. He gazed into her eyes, hoping that she would suddenly tell him to stop and stay with her, but no such thing happened. As Riku turned around and walked away, he did not dare look back, knowing that looking back would mean seeing the final tears rolling down Kagome's soft, rosy cheeks. If he looked back, he would never leave._

_-------------------------_

A man clad in all black watched as two streaks of light fell from the sky, golden eyes following the movements of the glowing streaks. Their movements curved as they neared the water, slowing their momentum and softening the impact. The lights hit the sea with a loud splash, the water spraying meters into the air from the impact. The girl beside him watched, her ebony tresses floating freely and mingling with the man's own silver locks in the large gusts of wind from their perch.

"I've seen that they've returned safely, and I've made sure that the damned brat returned to his original form, Kagome. It's time that you keep your end of the bargain."

Kagome smiled forlornly, watching as the two teenage boys were tackled back into the ocean waves by their companions. She would miss them, especially Riku, but she knew that leaving was for the best. The older teenager probably forgot about her already, considering he didn't seem to be bothered by her absence. The thought saddened her, but only hardened her resolve.

"You know, you're really not that bad of a person, Sephiroth" Kagome informed and the former SOLDIER looked down at her with disdain.

"Keep you opinions to yourself, girl."

Kagome stifled a giggle, finding his mannerisms amusing and extremely familiar. "Of course."

The man was about to transport them off the island with his magic when Kagome took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs. She knew Sephiroth wouldn't be happy by her betrayal, but deep inside, she wanted her knight in white armor to come and rescue her at least once while in his normal form.

"_Riku!_" she screamed and the boy turned in the direction of the noise. The man at her side snarled in anger at the high-pitched noise, whirling around and striking the girl down. This time, the scream was an accident as she collided hard against the dark stone of the island. It cracked beneath the impact, a crater forming where Kagome collided against the jagged wall.

Sephiroth smirked at her whimper of pain, revealing his extremely long Katana inch by inch, drawing out her fear as long as he could.

"Kagome!" Riku cried, racing across the sand of the beach to reach her in time. He saw the man pulling the sword from its sheath, saw him preparing to strike Kagome, but did not see the sword lower until it was embedded within Kagome's chest. The ebony-haired girl screamed in pain, eyes wide as her hands tried desperately to remove the blade from her form.

"And the Timeless Miko faded away" Sephiroth chuckled, removing his katana and flickering off the blood of its tip. Riku felt his keyblade's comforting weight in the grip of his hand, and he charged at Sephiroth. A dark vortex formed behind the new antagonist as he prepared to transport himself to some far-off world, and it took Riku all of his remaining energy to boost his speed even more. By the time Riku was in striking distance, Sephiroth already stepped through the vortex and disappeared.

Riku released his hold on his keyblade, turning his head to look into Kagome's dull, sapphire eyes. Blood dripped down her chest and stained the golden sand beneath her feet.

"Riku" she breathed and he hurried to her side, dropping to his knees so they were eye level.

"Kagome, don't speak" he commanded quietly, shaking as he lifted a hand and caressed her cheek. "Don't worry, I'll heal you." He cast a curaga, but was horrified when it did not affect her body. Kagome weakly grasped Riku wrist and smiled.

"Your simple spells can't cure me, silly boy. I'm not like you. People from my galaxy cannot by cured by your spells when we're this close to death. King Mickey knows that just as well as I do."

"Don't talk, save your breath" Riku pleaded.

"My soul is fighting again."

"Kagome!"

"You have quite the journey ahead of you, young man" she teased before coughing. Riku touched their foreheads together, trying to stay as close to her as he could. He could feel her blood seeping through the thick cloth of his zipper vest. "Don't let yourself be overcome by sorrow and greed… take your time and cherish what you have…" she whispered, the light fading from her tired gaze. Riku desperately wanted to tell her not leave, but he couldn't bring himself to say such selfish words. His pleading would only bring her more pain, he was sure. He simply whispered her name again, pulling her even closer to his body.

"I love you, Riku."

"I love you, too" he replied quietly and she laughed, struggling to raise her head and kiss his cheek.

"Remember" she panted, "cherish…"

Sora watched from afar as Kagome's body went limp in Riku's embrace. Kairi sniffled, fighting back her tears. She didn't know the girl well at all, but seeing Riku in so much emotional turmoil stabbed at her heart. Her best friend was suffering, and she knew that she could do nothing to lessen the pain.

Sora gently grabbed Kairi's hands and gave it a soft squeeze of assurance. _Everything's going to be alright. He'll make it through this _his hold told her and she nodded.

Kagome's body suddenly exploded with light and Riku was forced to release her and step away. She began to float in the air, a large gust of wind swirling around her and whipping her hair and clothes. Small streaks of darkness slowly made their way into the light until the two sides licked at each other and shied back. The light coming from her body concentrated itself into orbs, forming a large ring around her chest. The ring then started to spin, spinning faster and faster until all the orbs blurred into a large band. The orbs suddenly stopped and began to vibrate, shaking the very earth the trio stood on, before rocketing into the sky and dispersing.

The wind died down as a large, heart-shaped crystal separated from Kagome's chest.

"Her heart!" Sora cried in horror, watching as it rose into the sky, twirling and dancing in joy at its newfound freedom. Before it got very high, however, it froze and also began to tremble. Like the orbs of light, it shot into the sky with a roar.

Kagome slowly drifted down from the air as her heart disappeared, crumpling on the soft sand. The three teenagers raced to her side in terrified awe.

"She's healed!" Kairi gasped, pointing at the girl's chest.

"The blood's gone" Sora added, "Hurry! Check! Maybe she's still alive!"

Thinking the same thing, Riku quickly placed his fingers near her nose. Feeling nothing, he laid his head above her heart. Nothing.

"She's dead" he stated forlornly and their excitement quickly faded.

That night, the trio carved out a tomb for her in their sacred cave, gently putting her body into the small crevice before sealing it up and returning to their homes.

That night, Riku almost cried, but stubbornly kept the tears at bay. He survived without Kagome for a year before seeing her again. He could handle living without her for another long while.

To Be Continued…

There's the prologue for you guys! It was originally going to be a one-shot, but I kept writing and writing and more ideas kept coming into my head. Now I have enough to make it a full-out story. I know, I still have all of my other stories to update, but I can't help it. Hope you guys like it so far! Read and Review, please!


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the worlds or characters in this story. The plot, if you haven't noticed yet, is based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. After this chapter, the plot will begin to differentiate from the manga written by CLAMP, so don't think I'm taking their idea and calling it my own.

My Story's Ending

Chapter 1

firefox369

Riku watched the waves crash against the shore of Destiny islands, smiling woefully at the clear, cerulean water. His journey had ended about a month ago, and it was that same day that Kagome had been lost to him as well. Stranded on his home world, he had no choice but to sit and watch the sun rise and set, listen to the waves as they waxed and waned, and smell the salt lingering in the air whenever the wind blew. Being home definitely felt good, but knowing Kagome was rotting away in the back cave put a burden on his heart.

He needed to get out of here. Soon.

Sora glanced at him, knowing that Riku was still mourning the loss of the girl, but wasn't quite sure how to comfort him. Sora never experienced such death, and never had the need to soothe someone's emotional wounds. He hoped that not bringing the subject up would keep the wound from reopening.

"Guys!" Kairi called, running across the bridge and panting as she held out a bottle for them to take. "I think this is for you" she panted, bowing at her waste and heaving with her breaths. The paper within the bottle spun from the jostling to reveal the King's symbol stamped across the parchment.

"The King!" the two boys exclaimed. Sora eagerly grabbed the bottle, popped off the cork at its mouth, and tugged out the rolled paper. He unrolled it and turned to make it easier for Riku and Kairi to read over his shoulder.

_Sora, Riku, Kairi;_

_The heartless and nobodies are making a comeback, and are beginning to take over the separate worlds again. We believe Sephiroth is leading them, but it's also clear that he's not the only one manipulating them. I've talked to Cloud and he says that Sephiroth, though a genius, would not manipulate people's emotions and actions with such ease. Already, we have lost several friends to the darkness, and it is becoming more difficult to boost everyone's morale._

_Donald and Goofy think it would be a good idea for you to resume your journeys and seal the doors again. I warn you, though, that the heartless and nobodies are exponentially stronger, as if drawing energy from some unknown source. Prepare yourselves for a hard and perilous journey._

_I have been informed of Kagome's death, and I believe that the sudden rise in darkness has something to do with it. This request probably sounds strange and extremely rude, but bring Kagome's body with you to the castle. If we can revive her, we may be able to strengthen the light and balance the two sides again._

_Sora, don't leave Kairi on Destiny Islands. Though she may be inferior to you regarding swordsmanship, she will become a great asset after some training with Leon and the others at Radiant Garden._

_Cid will be there to pick you up shortly. I suggest you pack everything you need quickly._

_King Mickey_

Kairi puffed up with pride and smiled smugly at Sora.

"See that, Sora? You can't leave me behind this time!" she cried, pushing the brunette. He stumbled forward, teetering at the edge of the outcropping for a few moments before Riku grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back so he could regain his balance. Kairi giggled at Sora's expression. "Come on, we need to get ready to go!"

"What are you going to fight with?" Sora pouted. "I'm not going to be able to protect you the entire time, and I'm sure Riku will be busy fighting off heartless, too!"

"I'll figure something out! Didn't you read the letter? I'll be fine after some training!"

"But the training will take really long time. Will you even be ready by the time we're done?"

"The King said you should bring me and that I'll be a 'great asset'! Don't you trust his decision?"

Riku cleared his throat to get their attention and the two turned to glare at him. They were in the middle of an argument, and were not happy about it being interrupted.

"Who wants to dig Kagome out of the tomb?" he asked uncomfortably and the pair blanched. "I'm not doing it alone."

"Sora can do it, he's handled more dead things than I have" Kairi volunteered, pointing at the spiky-haired boy. Sora shook his head in disagreement.

"Kairi can do it. She's better with girls."

"Kagome's dead, idiot! You won't have to worry about a thing!"

"But I still don't feel comfortable touching her! What if my hand slips or something?"

Riku sighed, shaking his head. His silver locks followed the small movement, fluttering in front of his face for a brief moment. "Come on, Sora" he commanded, grabbing the back of the boy's collar and dragging him off to the small cave. "Kairi, go get everything you need. Pack light."

"Yes sir!" she chirped before running passed him and hopping into a small rowboat. "I'll be back as soon as I can!"

"Why do I have to do this?" Sora whined as Riku let go. "Kairi would definitely be much better at handling someone of the same gender!"

"Although that may be true, it'll be much easier to break through the rock with you. Kairi doesn't carry a keyblade" Riku answered. Sora saw the reality behind his response and found that he had to agree. Though Kairi was strong for a girl, she couldn't summon a keyblade at will, and would not be of much use hacking through the stone barrier of the tomb.

The pair stopped in front of the small opening to the cave.

"I'm not even sure I still fit" Riku suddenly commented as Sora went on his hands and knees and squeezed through the small crevice. Riku had grown a lot during the past few years wandering around in the darkness, and was not looking forward to forcing himself into the small cave entrance.

"Come on, Riku. You dragged me here, there's no way I'm chopping away all that rock on my own while you ponder about how to get in" Sora grumbled, shimmying into the cavern. Riku tried to get in the same was as Sora, but found that even on his hands and knees, he was too tall. He was forced to makes his way through the tunnel on his stomach, inching through the duct with his shoulders constantly bumping against the rough surface. At least he could hold his head up straight.

"Wow, Riku, you really don't fit in that anymore, do you?" Sora laughed as Riku climbed out. His arms were smudged with dirt, but he ignored it to look around the cave. It had been hard enough burying Kagome in their haven, but digging her out would be much harder. They were defiling her grave.

The two boys looked at the left side of the cave, where a small indent was. Rocks were piled tightly, effectively sealing the compartment. Their steps were slow and careful when walking toward the wall, as if they were expecting Kagome's zombie to explode from her tomb and attack them in a hungered frenzy. They stopped in front of the wall of rocks, two flashes of light illuminating the cavern as their keyblades entered their hands.

"I can't believe we're doing this" Sora whimpered, his face contorted with discomfort. "The King better have a good reason for us to drag around her rotting corpse."

"Sora" Riku warned and the younger smiled nervously.

"Sorry."

They both got into a fighting stance before lunging and effectively slicing the stones. The outer layer of stones cracked and crumbled. As they fell, the rest of the stones began to collapse, not able to balance without the destroyed rocks. Riku and Sora jumped back from the torrent of rocks, not wanting to get his as the large particles cascaded to their feet.

To Riku's surprise, there was no stench.

"Don't dead people smell bad?" Sora questioned, confused.

"Apparently not."

"I don't like this, Riku" Sora whined childishly and Riku frowned, a shiver running down his spine at the thought of what could be laying beyond the entrance to the tomb.

"I don't like this, either."

"Maybe Cid will be able to go in and drag her out." After a moment of silence, Sora huffed. "If he can fit through the tunnel." Riku laughed at the statement before slowly stepping into the makeshift tomb. The man-made cavern was dark and ominous, and it took some time for his eyes to adjust, but nothing popped out of the shadows to attack him. Kagome was its only occupant, lying on the cavern floor, eyes shut and looking exactly the same as when they left her.

"She's still in one piece" Riku stated, confused.

"You don't think she's going to snap her eyes open and eat us alive, do you?"

"God, Sora, stop creeping me out" he teased, but he shivered again. He had seen enough creatures during his travels to know that an undead Kagome lunging at them was a very plausible situation.

"Poke her" Sora dared him.

"No, you poke her" Riku retorted, glancing nervously at the girl. Yes, he liked her, but seeing her stay so completely _perfect_, even while being dead for an entire month, made him quiver slightly.

"You're the brave one" Sora argued.

"You're the one that runs into things head on."

"Well she's _your _girlfriend. She probably won't kill you if she wakes up."

"Kagome's not going to wake up" Riku reasoned.

"Then poke her already!"

Riku stepped closer to her prone form, believing her hand would randomly grasp his leg and yank it from under him despite his words. Riku was only a foot away now, his tall stature looming over her still form. Slowly, he raised his blade and gently prodded her with the tip, careful not to break her skin.

Nothing happened.

Both teenagers heaved a sigh of relief. Riku turned to face Sora, motioning him closer, but Sora stubbornly shook his head. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened as he pointed.

"She's not going to kill you, Sora."

"R-Riku" he stammered and the silver-haired boy felt hot breath against the back of his neck. Slowly, Riku turned around to come face to face with some strange, monstrous creature. When did that thing get there? It certainly wasn't in the cave with them a second ago.

Nervous teal gazed into angered yellow.

"Sora" he said slowly, knowing the boy was listening. "On the count of three, use some magic to distract it for me and run."

He heard the boy gulp.

"One."

The pair shifted into a position better suited for running. The creature saw and growled.

"Two."

Light began to illuminate the cavern as Sora prepared his magic. Riku could see the glint of fangs and the drool that dribbled off of them. A glob of the disgusting substance splattered on the ground at his feet.

"Three!"

Riku ducked, lifting Kagome into his arms as Sora fired a gigantic ball of fire at the creature. It reared back with a roar of pain.

Both boys took this time to race out of the tomb as fast as they could, stumbling over the rocks and scrambling to the entrance. Sora dropped to his hands and knees, entering the tunnel backwards as he grabbed Kagome's shoulders and began dragging her into the tunnel after him. Riku spun around to watch for the aggravated monster, keyblade in hand and a crackling ball of electricity swirling in his other hand. He hoped that the spell would be able to distract the thing long enough for them to escape.

"Come on!" Sora called and Riku glanced down to see that Kagome was completely within the tunnel. The creature roared as it charged out of the tomb, crashing into one of the stalagmites and shattering it with its monstrous frame. "Come on, Riku!"

The beast lunged at them and Riku released the spell, watching with morbid relief as the beast was knocked away mid leap. He then dove into the crevice and scrambled to the other side as fast as he could, praying to all the gods he knew of that the _thing_ wouldn't regain its bearings before he was safely out of its reach. He arrived at the other side completely unharmed, but covered from head to foot in dirt. Sora was clinging to Kagome for dear life a few meters away.

"What the hell _was _that?" he shouted. Riku jogged to his side and looked back at the cave.

"I have no idea" he panted, heart racing. He could feel the adrenaline rushing though his veins, speeding his heart rate. The entire island shook as the monster roared and snarled within the cave. "That doesn't sound good."

"When is Cid going to be here?" Sora all but sobbed. He had battled against his share of heartless and nobodies, but he was sure that the creature in the cave was _not _something he'd battled against before. The thing was too... _alive_ and _much scarier_ than the heartless and nobodies.

The crevice exploded, rock and debris flying every which way, and the two males stepped back, shutting their eyes and coughing in the cloud of dust and sand. When the particles had settled enough, they opened their eyes to see the creature standing at the mouth of the cave. Its fur was singed and blackened, the dark cape around its neck hanging on by a thread. It stood to its full height, standing like a human on its furry, hind legs.

"Beast?" Sora gasped, but there was no recognition in his friend's eyes. He clung to Kagome even tighter. "Beast, what are you doing here? What happened to Belle?"

"Sora, I don't think he knows who you are" Riku stated, backing away and tugging on Sora's sleeve. "Come on, we need to get out of here as fast as we can."

"But he's my friend!"

"Nothin' you do is gonna make him recognize you, kid!" a voice shouted from behind them and they glanced back to see Cid standing at the entrance of his most recent gummi ship, waving his hand. "Hurry up! The lassie's already in here!"

"Cid, we have to help him!" Sora argued, flourishing his hand and nearly dropping Kagome in the process. Riku took the limp girl from his hold, not wanting to see her dead body abused more than it needed to be.

"The darkness got to him, kiddo. We need to get out of here!"

Beast roared.

"Sora, come on!" Kairi called, popping her head out of the ship and motioning them over. Riku didn't need to wait for another invitation, and yanked on Sora's sleeve.

"Come on!" he hissed, racing to the gummi ship with Beast literally snapping at their heels. A ball of fire whizzed by their heads, barely missing them and striking Beast. The prince was knocked off his feet and blown back, giving Sora and Riku just enough time to throw themselves into the gummi ship. Cid slammed the entrance shut and raced to the controls.

"Sit down, kids, and fasten your seatbelts!"

They obeyed, each scrambling to a different seat, and the ship rumbled to life. Sora just clipped his seatbelt when the ship shot forward, snapping his head back and keeping it here until the ride smoothed out. Only once they were in the middle of the stars, gazing at a small orb known as the world of Destiny Islands, did Cid relax his shoulders and lean back comfortably against his seat. One by one, the other occupants relaxed and sighed with relief.

"Care to explain what's going on?" Sora asked and Cid waved the question off.

"I'm not too sure myself. Just wait until we make it back to Radiant Garden. Leon and the King'll be able to answer all of your questions."

"Well, do you know what happened to Beast? You said that the darkness got him. What does that mean?" Sora demanded, worried about his friend. They left him behind on the island lost, angry and alone.

"The darkness' been eating people's hearts. Beast was the first to go."

"But w_hy_?"

"Hell if I know, Kid. How's the other lass? She looks a little too healthy to be dead, if I do say so myself."

Riku glanced down at the girl cold girl in his arms, and was surprised to see that she hadn't changed a single bit. Her face was a little paler than it was when she was alive, a result of her death, but there was no decay. She looked as if she were sleeping in his arms, but all of the ship's occupants knew that it wasn't the case. The three teens saw her die, saw the man embed his katana into her chest, saw the blood spill out of her body.

"She's dead" Riku told the pilot coldly, not liking the current conversation. Though the affection he held for Kagome began to fade, seeing her and holding her in his arms brought the bubbling emotions back to the surface. "How long until we reach Radiant Garden?"

"Not long. This new baby I made is the fastest thing ever built" Cid stated, puffing up his chest with pride and chewing on the toothpick in his mouth. Kairi watched the piece of wood wave up and down in Cid's mouth, wondering how many he went through a day. It must have been quite a few, she decided, if he constantly toyed with the wood with such vigor.

"I see it!" Sora exclaimed, pointing out the window. Kairi strained her neck to see where Sora was pointing, and clapped her hands in excitement upon witnessing the fast approaching sphere. Riku gazed at the world, eyes narrowed in thought. His grip on Kagome tightened slightly. The King better give him answers, and they better be good, considering the King made him defile Kagome's grave and stir the emotions he so desperately tried to forget.

Riku watched the buildings near as they landed in their midst. A cloud of dust rose around the ship as the rockets aimed at the ground to slow their descent. When they safely touched the ground with a slight jolt, the dust cloud was so thick that they couldn't see through it. Cid waited until the cloud finished settling to lower the door tot he entrance and step out into the small town. Sora ran into the open, laughing as he stepped on the brick path.

"I'm going on ahead!" he shouted before sprinting off, not bothering to wait for his companions. Kairi pouted, looking at Cid expectantly. The man sighed, adjusting his goggles and waving her off.

"Not like I'd be able to stop you, anyway" he grumbled as the girl giggled and raced off after her friend. "Guess it's just you and me, eh? Oh, and the lass. Can't forget about her."

Riku gazed at the town, quickly taking in his surroundings before nodding mutely. Cid sighed again, twirling the toothpick in his mouth before walking in the same direction Sora and Kairi ran. They walked through the town in silence, neither of the two finding it necessary to strike up a conversation. They knew who their companion was, knew why they were traveling with them, and knew that there wouldn't be any backstabbing. They didn't need to know anything else.

"Took you long enough!" a girl huffed, standing in front of a house that seemed to tower over the small cottages around it. "Sora and Kairi made it here hours ago!"

"Shut up, lassy" Cid commanded, not amused by her rude facial expressions and gestures.

"Yuffie! Yu-ffie!" she corrected, punctuating every syllable. As if noticing Riku for the first time, her scowl dropped off her face and she waved with a small hop. "Hi! You must be Riku! Come on in, everyone's waiting for you two!"

The door to the house opened and a man with shaggy brown hair stepped out. His hair was only slightly shorter than Riku's, and as they looked at each other Riku knew that they were similar in many other ways. Though their eyes weren't the same color, the gazes were the same.

"Come on in" the man invited, stepping aside and waiting for the two to walk inside and take a seat. Yuffie trailed behind, skipping, and the man shut the door behind them. "I'm Leon" he introduced before pointing at an aging man with a long beard garbed in long, blue robes. "That's Merlin."

"I'm Aeris" a girl introduced. Her hair was up in a ponytail with a unique, twisting curl. Stunning green eyes softened as she smiled. "The blonde one over in the corner is Cloud."

"And this is Tifa!" Yuffie chimed in, tackling another girl with long, straight black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Riku!" a voice laughed and the boy turned to face the ecstatic King. "I didn't think you'd actually bring her."

"I have questions for you" Riku stated softly.

"Oh, where are my manners?" Merlin cried, "Take a seat!" He waved his wand and a chair suddenly appeared at Riku's side. The silver-haired teenager hesitated before sitting on it, afraid that it would disappear exactly the way it came. All eyes were on the young man as he adjust Kagome in his lap to make the position more comfortable for him.

"What do you want to know first?" Leon asked.

"What happened to Beast?" Sora demanded, the image of the snarling creature reentering his mind. "Why did he turn all growly? Why didn't he know who I was?"

Leon and the King looked at each other before Leon sighed.

"Guess I'll explain" Leon offered. "We don't know all the exact details, but we do know that the heartless are out to make us miserable, as usual. However, under Maleficent, they just attacked and bothered us. Now that they're working for someone else, they've been used much more strategically. They attack when we least expect it, and leave nothing in their wake but destruction. They overrun the worlds, taking the things that people cherish most, and leave only remnants behind."

"So they've gotten smarter" Kairi summarized.

"The heartless themselves didn't get smarter, only the person controlling them" Leon corrected. "The heartless play with their victims, wearing them down and slowly bringing out the hopelessness and anger within them. Once a person has been consumed by that anger and the other malignant emotions, that person is consumed by darkness and turns into an empty puppet with a manipulative puppet master. We're trying to figure out whose controlling everything."

"Beast was consumed by darkness when Belle was kidnapped by the heartless. She was returned, unharmed, once the puppet master had Beast safely under his control" Aeris added.

"And this 'puppet master' isn't this Sephiroth guy" Sora mumbled, remembering the letter the King sent them.

"Sephiroth would have killed Belle. He's not that kind" Cloud informed, pushing himself away from the corner he occupied and standing up straight. "Sephiroth is anything but merciful. I'm sure you've figured that out firsthand." Cloud motioned to Kagome as he spoke, eyes darkening in remembrance. Riku's eyes narrowed.

"So the man that killed Kagome is named Sephiroth" he whispered.

"Where are Donald and Goofy?" Kairi inquired, remembering the funny looking duck and dog she met.

"They're out trying to prevent another galaxy from suffering the same fate as ours" the King explained. "The new bad guy has figured out how to transport the heartless to other galaxies. I sent them out in hopes that they would be able to postpone the spread."

"Which galaxy?" Sora chimed. He didn't know any others except his own, but he still wondered.

"Kagome's. They're the most helpless against the heartless."

"Kagome's?"

All eyes turned to the wavy, black-haired girl in Riku's lap.

"Why did you tell us to bring her?" Riku questioned and the King's eyes softened, knowing the love Riku felt for the girl. His feelings were obvious, and the King felt bad forcing him to break into her tomb.

"I thought she might still be of use, and I was right. She isn't known as the Timeless Miko for no reason" King Mickey began, standing from his seat and walking to Riku to look the girl over. "Though she looks and feels dead, her body is being preserved by the jewel she never destroyed. Did anything strange happen when she supposedly died?"

"A bunch of orbs came out of her body" Kairi started, "and then spun around her a lot before shooting off."

"And then her heart came out and flew off somewhere, too" Sora finished.

"Orbs?" Merlin repeated, tapping his chin. "Ah hah!" The wizard made his way to the tallest pile of books, glancing over all of their spines before grabbing one and yanking it out from beneath the pile. Kairi winced, waiting for the pile to collapse on the old man, but was delighted when the stack glittered and slowly balanced itself. Merlin flipped through the pages of the old text in a frenzy, flipping though so quickly that the other occupants of the room were certain the pages would rip and flutter out of the book. "Right here!" Merlin announced and cleared his throat. "It says that when orbs of light separate from a dying body, the soul is being dispersed. It only happens with high level holy beings and gods."

"That's it?" Sora commented monotonously, a deadpan expression on his face. That much information could be inferred, considering the state of her body.

"There's more, don't tie your pants in a bundle while I translate the text." Kairi sniggered at Sora's expense while Merlin finished reading the section of the book. "It says that putting the orbs back into the body will revive it, but the first portion of the soul must be returned within the first two months, or she really will die."

"What about her heart?" Riku asked and Merlin scowled.

"The page is ripped."

"So we can still bring her back" King Mickey mused, tossing the idea in his head.

"I think it would be worth the effort to find the portions of her soul" Leon stated. "She must have done something extraordinary to gain the title of the Timeless Miko. She may be able to help us find and defeat the person behind the heartless and nobody attacks."

"The girl might even be able to purify the hearts of the people that became puppets, considering she's a miko" Aeris suggested.

"Like Beast!" Yuffie chirped and Leon nodded.

"It wouldn't hurt to try, that's for sure" King Mickey agreed. "Are you up for it, Riku?"

Aqua eyes gleamed in response and the King smiled.

"I'm sure Sora will be willing to accompany you while Kairi begins her training."

"Of course I'll go!"

"Then it's settled! You'll leave with Kagome as soon as you're ready. If you give her the pieces of her soul immediately after you find them, you'll reduce the chance of losing the pieces on your way back."

Riku nodded.

"You can take the new gummi. Faster travel. She's a beauty, ain't she? Just don't kill her. Kill her and I kill you" Cid sniffed, rubbing the back of his hand against his nose.

"What about the heartless out in space? Are there any weapons built in that we can use to shoot them down?" Sora inquired and Cid smirked.

"Of course! You'll like 'em, I know you will. I added lots of flair to 'em."

"Do you guys think you're ready? The heartless have gotten a lot stronger since you last fought them" Cloud said, assuming that Sora and Cid's conversation would run on a tangent and no longer needed their ears and attention.

"We'll need to stock up on supplies, considering we don't know how long we're going to be gone" Riku explained and Cloud nodded knowingly. It was a good decision on his part. "And if Merlin and Leon are willing, I'd like to review my magic and swordsmanship while I still have time."

"That's going to take a long time, though" Sora commented and Riku glanced at him.

"I know."

"Do you really want to wait that long? I thought that you would run off as soon as possible to gather the orbs of Kagome's soul and bring her back to life" Tifa said, saying her first words since the meeting began. "Running around blindly, I think, is something you'd do for her."

"I'll wait as long as I have to in order to make sure that I'm ready for what's out there. This entire mission would be pointless if Sora and I die before we finish."

"Well said" the King praised, eyes twinkling, "but I'm sure that your decision wasn't made on your on. I'm assuming your choice was influenced by something Kagome said before she died. I've told you about her clairvoyance."

"_You have quite the journey ahead of you, young man" she teased before coughing. Riku touched their foreheads together, trying to stay as close to her as he could. He could feel her blood seeping through the thick cloth of his zipper vest. "Don't let yourself be overcome by sorrow and greed… take your time and cherish what you have…" she whispered, the light fading from her tired gaze._

"Very perceptive, King" Riku responded and the two smiled at each other in understanding.

"I don't get it" Yuffie commented as she observed the silent conversation the two were having, face scrunched up in confusion. "Someone explain this to me, I don't get it."

"I don't really understand what's going on, either" Cid stated, snorting at the ninja's antics and effectively ending the excited words he and Sora were sharing about the newest gummi ship.

"You weren't even listening!" Yuffie pouted.

"Don't even try to understand it Yuffie. Those two have been together for a very long time, and understand each other perfectly. It's something we can't even begin to comprehend" Aeris soothed.

The King suddenly nodded at Riku.

"You'll leave in three days, then?"

"Why can't you do that with Riku, Sora?" Kairi inquired and Sora scratched his head. Although he didn't like to admit it, his brain couldn't quite keep up with a conversation without words.

"I don't know" he answered, avoiding the question.

"Liar" Kairi grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Three days" Riku agreed, ignoring the conversations around him. "We'll leave in three days."

To Be Continued...


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movies produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue.

My Story's Ending

Chapter 2

firefox369

The sun was low, the light waning from the darkening sky. All members of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee were crowded in the ethereal Crystal Fissure, watching as Riku sparred with Cloud in the final traces of the dying light. The crimson rays reflected off their sweat-drenched bodies, their breaths forming soft clouds of fog in the cooling air. Sora finished his training with Leon a few minutes earlier, and decided to spend his few moments of free time observing his friend and rival. He was curious as to how far Riku advanced in one day, and was blown away by the massive improvement.

"He's been hacking away at Cloud since before sunrise" Tifa told the young keyblade bearer. "At first he was a little rusty, but he seems to have found his fighting spirit again."

Cloud knocked Riku's practice blade out of the teen's grip. The sword spiraled into the air, flying meters into the sky before curving downward due to the pull of gravity. The path of the blade arched, and the sword continued spinning wildly as it neared the hard earth.

"That's the end of the fight" Leon predicted. Sora didn't believe him.

Riku didn't let the loss of his sword distract him and landed a kick to Cloud's legs. Cloud stumbled and Riku took the chance to race to his sword. The blade stabbed into the ground, embedding itself quite a ways away from the battling sparring partners.

"Don't be too sure about that. I believe in Riku" Sora said determinedly. Seeing Riku working so hard and fighting with everything within his very soul inspired him. Sora had difficulty believing that his friend could be bested after sparring with such vigor.

Aeris shook her head, disagreeing. "No. The fights over."

"How can you be so sure?" Sora inquired. Riku was fast, much faster than Sora liked to admit, but Cloud was faster. The seasoned warrior was barely fazed by the kick, and quickly chased after his student. He easily caught up, despite the heavy weight of his large sword.

"Cloud can fight for much longer than him. Riku's at his limit. He won't make it to the blade" Leon answered.

True to Leon's words, Cloud roughly knocked Riku onto his back. Sora winced when he saw his friend skid across the ground before crashing into the crystalline wall on the other side of the gorge. Cloud took his time walking to Riku's side as the silver-haired boy struggled to his hands and knees, and gazed emotionlessly as the boy tried to regain his breath with deep, heaving pants. Sweat dripped off Riku's face, drenching his clothes.

The blonde eventually tapped the unsharpened edge of his sword against Riku's throat.

"Give up" he commanded. His voice was calm, his heart already returning to its normal pulse and his breathing already steadying. "You've trained enough for one day."

Riku remained silent for a few minutes before shifting and sitting against the crystal wall behind him. He looked up and Cloud saw the dissatisfaction in his gaze. It smothered beneath the lens of his eyes, swirling in his very gaze and aura.

"You won't be able to continue tomorrow if you go on like this" Cloud added.

Riku looked away with a snort, grudgingly finding the truth in his statement. "I give" he finally whispered.

"You know, he's regained more than his fighting spirit, Tifa" Aeris suddenly commented and Kairi's eyes widened, knowing where the conversation was about to turn.

"He's finally re-accepting the light" Sora guessed.

"No," Kairi corrected, "Riku started coming back into the light a long time ago, Sora. His new strength isn't from the light. It's from something else."

"Riku's found something to fight for" Tifa smiled. "He's fighting to save the girl he loves."

Sora blanched, scrunching his face in disgust with a strangled 'blech'. "That's so _cheesy_."

Kairi slapped the back of his head with a growl. "_I _think it's romantic."

Riku stumbled to his feet, leaning on the stone heavily for support before swaying. He shook his head to clear his vision of the swirling stars, but only worsened his dizziness and collapsed. Cloud caught Riku's unconscious body before it hit the ground. The blonde man's cold expression seemed to glow with pride as he gazed at the boy. Seeing the satisfied gaze in cloud's eyes made Aeris smile. The look of contentment on his face was the closest the blonde had ever gotten to smiling.

---------

_"You're really kind of a deep sleeper, you know that?" Kagome mused, watching as the teen stretched his aching muscles. The position he decided to rest in wasn't the most accommodating, and he was starting to regret refusing Kagome's quiver. The quiver would have been uncomfortable, but at least he would be able to move his neck without wincing._

_"I sleep light, but I sleep a lot" Riku corrected and the girl laughed._

_"If that's what you want to keep telling yourself, then whatever. I've been trying to wake you up for the last ten minutes" Kagome explained. She placed all her weight on one leg and teasingly tapped the imaginary watch on her wrist in mock impatience._

_"I find you hard to believe."_

_"Aw. That's mean, Riku." Kagome pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. She stuck her tongue out at the boy, knowing he wouldn't be able to see her through the blindfold and darkness. Though he may not have been able to see her, Riku could most certainly feel the ire radiating off her in waves. He conveniently chose to ignore the ominous aura. Instead, he began walking away. "Hey, where're you going?"_

_"Anywhere. I'll wander around until I find what I'm looking for."_

_"That's boring."_

_"Are you coming, or are you going to travel on your own again?" Riku grumbled, turning his head to face her with his covered eyes. Even though their eyes couldn't connect throught he blindfold and darkness, she could feel their piercing gaze boring through the pores of her skin._

_"I'm coming! I'm coming!" she shouted, racing to his side. _

_They walked in silence, as Kagome didn't want to speak and aggravate Riku any more than she already had, until Riku's expression told her that he wasn't paying attention, and that he was drowning in his thoughts. Kagome gazed at him for a long time (to make sure it was safe) before sticking her tongue out at him again, scowling and making faces at him. She had to entertain herself somehow, she reasoned._

_"Stop that" he suddenly commanded._

_"Stop what?" she asked innocently._

_"Stop making that face. You look constipated." _

_Kagome's jaw dropped, face flushing with embarrassment. "But it's dark, and you have a blindfold on! You shouldn't be able to see what I'm doing! How did you know that I was making faces at you?"_

_"Guessed. You just proved me right" Riku chuckled and Kagome growled in frustration, slamming her foot against the ground._

_"That's not fair! You tricked me!" Kagome shouted, getting into a battle stance and pointing at him. Her sapphire eyes glittered with annoyance and determination. Riku ignored her belligerent aura and continued walking. She followed his silhouette with her narrowed eyes, mind racing through the various scenarios the situation could lead to, and scowled when she realized that none of them ran in her favor._

_"Nah. You tricked yourself."_

_"You insufferable _jerk_! I'm leaving!"_

_"Go on ahead, no one's keeping you here." Riku had to keep himself from laughing, knowing exactly what she would do. Kagome was just so _predictable _sometimes._

_"What do you mean? _You're_ keeping me here!"_

_Riku stopped again and turned fully so his front faced her, smirking. "How, exactly, am I keeping you here? I just said you could leave if you really wanted to."_

_"There! You just did it again!" Kagome cried, hands balling into fists at her sides. She fought the urge to rip the dark tresses of her hair out of her head._

_"What did I do?"_

_"Don't you act all clueless, O Great Knight of Darkness. You know ex-act-ly what you're doing."_

_"I have no idea what you're talking about, Kagome" Riku laughed, not able to hold in his amusement any longer. He really had no idea what the young priestess was trying to say._

_"Stop that! Stop acting all innocent!"_

_"I'm 'acting' innocent because I really am innocent of what you're accusing me of. "_

_"Like hell you're innocent! You're guilt tripping me! You know that if you let me leave I'll come running right back because I'll feel bad about leaving you alone! Jerk!"_

_"Huh. I'll remember that for next time."_

_"Gah! Sometimes I really can't stand you!" she snarled. Riku laughed at her words and began wandering again, shaking his head. Kagome fumed, stomping after him. "Just you wait! I'll have my revenge!"_

_---------_

"Riku!" a voice shouted and teal eyes groggily fluttered open. His bed rocked to and fro, shaking and trembling from the weight of Sora's leaps and jumps. The brunette almost landed on Riku's waking body more than a few times, effectively jostling his tired muscles. "Time to get up! We need to start training so we can leave!"

"I'm up, Sora. Stop jumping around or I'll knock you off" Riku mumbled. Since when was Sora so excited about training? Even though he loved fighting heartless and saving the worlds from destruction, Sora never enjoyed getting up before dawn to spar.

When Sora didn't heed his warning, he went through with his threat and kicked the brunette off his bed. Sora crashed to the hardwood floor with a loud thud before whimpering. "Told you" Riku yawned, covering his mouth and throwing the covers off his bed. He sat up and smirked at Sora's pout.

"Was that really necessary?"

"It's not like you broke anything."

"Gosh. You're just as harsh right when you wake up as during the middle of the day" Sora grumbled, hopping to his feet and patting the dust off his butt. "You could try to be a little less cynical, you know."

"Don't get me started on being cynical, Sora. I could go on for hours" the older male said as he slid off the bed and walked to the closet across the room. He wished he could just train in his loose, comfortable, cotton sleeping pants but he didn't particularly feel like running off to find a new pair if the one's he wore ripped. The girls probably wouldn't mind, but Leon and Cloud would definitely not appreciate the extra attention.

He didn't really like to gloat about the state of his body, but Riku was quite proud of his chiseled abs, no matter how bruised they were from the spar the day before.

"Come on!" Sora groaned, "You dress slower than Kairi!"

"Kairi plans her outfits the night before."

"So? You always wear the same outfit, so it shouldn't take _you_ that long, either. I'm sure _Kagome_ doesn't take hours dressing."

"Sora."

"What?" he snapped impatiently, tapping his foot. Riku turned to the boy, eyes flashing with some dangerous emotion. Sora recognized the look in his eyes and paled, shaking his head and taking a few steps back. "No, Riku, save the sparring for the training field!" he cried.

"I thought we had an unspoken agreement" Riku mused, stalking toward the petrified brunette. Sora looked around, searching for a means of escape. It really was quite unfortunate for him that the door was on the _other side_ of Riku.

"Unspoken agreement?" Sora laughed nervously, "You know I'm not good with that silent conversation stuff. That's more something reserved for you and King Mickey."

"3" Riku counted calmly, placing all his weight on his left leg, which was the less sore of the two.

"You know, I'm feeling kind of sick. I think I'm going to skip training today. Is there any way that we can resolve this without violence? I'd hate to throw up on you if you press my stomach too hard."

"Sora, leave Riku alone! He's still recovering from his collision with the rock yesterday" Yuffie scolded, poking her head into the room. "Breakfast is ready, by the way."

"Did Cid make it?" Sora asked, cowering slightly in fear at the thought of Cid's stew.

"Nope, I did!"

"2."

"Riku, stop teasing Sora!" Yuffie pouted. "Aeris and Kairi will hurt me if they know that I let you wrestle before we get a good chance to heal you!"

"Yeah, Riku!" Sora agreed.

"1."

Sora bolted out the door, Yuffie nimbly hopping out of the way. She scowled when Riku raced passed her and chased Sora down the hall. She began to shout after them, but stopped when a loud crash shook the house. Short temper snapping, Yuffie pulled the extremely large shuriken off her back and charged after the two boys.

"I give!" Sora laughed when Riku grabbed him and easily pinned him to the ground.

"Really? I don't think you mean that" he stated and Sora smirked. With a small roar, Sora shoved Riku off of him and their positions changed. Yuffie growled and gripped her shuriken so hard her knuckles turned white. The two boys rolling around on the floor didn't notice her, too occupied by their fight to care.

"Of course not! I'm never gonna surrender to _you_, Riku" the younger replied when he got Riku in a headlock. The silver-haired boy easily wriggled free and tackled Sora to the ground.

"Stop that, dammit!" Yuffie cried, chucking her shuriken and effectively pinning Sora's shirt to the floor an inch away from his face. The two males widened their eyes in surprise and slowly looked up at the fuming ninja. "We haven't healed you yet!"

Riku was about to cast a cure spell on himself but Yuffie raced to his side and grabbed his shoulders, shaking the living daylights out of him. She began ranting at the boy, shaking and jarring his body until Riku swore he could feel his brain rattling in his head. He almost puked.

"Yuffie, you're going to kill him!" Sora shouted, trying to free himself from the shuriken pinning his shirt to the ground. "Yuffie! _Yuffie!_"

Riku grabbed Yuffie's wrists, yanking them away from his body as he regained his bearings and tried to stop the swirling of his vision. He wasn't quite sure how the girl could have so much strength, but he was sure that it must have something to do with the massive amount of energy her sugar stores gave her.

"Let me heal myself" he suggested, and Yuffie stubbornly shook her head.

"Merlin wanted Kairi to try!"

"Then why hasn't she?"

"That's probably because we've been trying to capture this creature that suddenly appeared late last night" the girl decided, nodding. "A lot of stuff was damaged because of it."

"Creature?" Sora questioned. "Why didn't you ask for my help?"

"Well, Leon probably didn't want you to get hurt. The thing's kind of-"

"Yuffie, watch out!" Kairi shouted, voice squeaking slightly. The ninja leapt to the side just as a large, strange looking cat pummeled through the open door and into the boys' temporary home. Riku's eyes widened. Sora's jaw dropped.

"What _is_ that?" Sora demanded, pulling out his keyblade and preparing to defend himself if it attacked.

Gold-tinted emerald eyes locked with his own blue ones, sending a chill down his spine. The funky looking leopard growled. Long, furry, whip like whisker attached above each side of the animal's curled lips lashed the air. The whisker flattened near the end, like a feathery ribbon. The red of the creature's fur darkened as it neared the end of the appendage, tapering into a dark violet. The streak of white fur sticking up on the cat's spine reminded Sora of the hyena's he fought in the Pride Lands. Large, fox-like ears adorned it's head, swiveling as they tried to take in all noises around it. The ears curled gracefully near the tips, the fur gradating into a dark violet there, as well.

"It's a coeurl" Tifa panted, skidding to a stop behind the animal and blocking the way out.

The coeurl snarled, iron muscles rippling beneath it's soft fur. Black leopard spots adorned the crimson pelt, but faded on the length of the muscled whiskers. The long tail whipped at the air, the large tuft of white fur at the end licking hungrily at the atmosphere as if it were a flame. Ebony claws clicked against the wooden planks as it adjusted its position.

Suddenly, it lunged at Sora and the boy raised his blade to fight it. Instead of clashing with blade, though, the coeurl soared over the boy and scrambled into the room behind him. When did Sora get so close to the door leading to Kagome's room? Wait.

"Kagome!" the group exclaimed, throwing themselves into the room behind the coeurl and saw it standing near the bed, staring curiously at the girl occupying the mattress. Riku was at the front of the group, but did not step forward as the cat placed its large forepaws beside Kagome's arm and stood on it's hind legs. It's head was still lowered, the small, normal whiskers brushing against the cloth of the blanket as it sniffed the cloth.

Sora was about to attack but Riku kept him from lunging, grabbing Sora's shoulder and gently nudging him back into his original spot.

"But-"

"Sora, wait" Riku commanded, gazing at the tamed tail and liquid whisker appendages. While they flailed wildly when the coeurl feared being injured by the nervous party waiting in the living room, the appendages were strangely calm now, resting comfortably on the bed and ground. The creature purred, awkwardly taking two backward steps and placing all four paws on the floor before sitting on its haunches.

"It looks like it's..." Kairi started, but trailed off. The animal didn't want to hurt Kagome. That much was clear.

The coeurl released a gravely 'mew.' The noise was much deeper than that of a cat, and had the same depth as a roar, but it held a quality that made the room's occupants relax. Gently, it rubbed its cheek against Kagome's and mewed again. The ears atop its head, once alert, seemed to hang almost sadly off the animal's head.

"It looks like its mourning" Kairi finally finished. The animal sniffed Kagome's hand, licking it a few times before resting its head on the mattress beside Kagome's wrist.

"Did Kagome tell you about any coeurls she met, Riku?" Tifa asked. Riku shook his head.

"None."

"That's strange, considering coeurls are pretty violent in the wild."

They remained silent for a while, watching as the coeurl mewed and growled, before deciding to leave the creature in peace. Riku was the last to leave, glancing back and pausing in his steps.

"Take good care of her while I'm out, alright?" he requested and the coeurl's ears pricked up, swiveling in his direction. The ears were soon followed by the rest of the head as the coeurl gazed at him with emerald eyes. The piercing, feline gaze, though intimidating, comforted the boy. He was positive that the girl would be well protected under its careful eyes. The steel muscles shifted beneath its fur, once again reminding Riku of the coeurl's brute strength and agility. He wanted to see what else the creature could do, but shoved the curiosity to the back of his head for a later time. "I'll be back around noon."

The coeurl purred in consent as Riku finally exited the room. He didn't walk very far, though, before Kairi stopped him, ignoring the lack of clothing on his bare torso. She saw him shirtless enough during their daily visits to their island. After all, what was the point on living on an island if they didn't swim?

She looked at him expectantly.

"Go ahead" Riku urged and Kairi laughed, clapping her hands together.

"Alright! Hold on. I want to make sure I get this right."

"Take your time."

Riku watched as his body began to glow with a soft, green light. Warmth swam across his skin. He shut his eyes, letting the soothing feeling of water spread across his body like a soft wave. The soreness in his muscles faded, along with the aching bruise on his spine.

When the sensation faded, Riku opened his eyes to see a beaming Kairi. Excitement twinkled in her eyes and she shook from the force of holding back her happiness. Riku chuckled, ruffling her hair as he walked passed her and toward the exit of the small house he shared with Sora and Kagome. Kairi suddenly grabbed his wrist, holding him back.

"Wait" she commanded and he obeyed, rotating his head to look at her serious expression. Fascinating, he thought, was her ability to change emotions so quickly.

"Yeah, Kairi?"

"Well, I talked to Sora before you left the room, and we both think it's great to see you smiling again."

"What do you mean?" he inquired, trying to think of a period when he hadn't smiled for an extended amount of time.

Kairi let go of his wrist, clasping her hands behind her back and drilling her toes into the floor. "After Kagome died, all you ever seemed to do was sit around and mope, but now that we know we can still get her back…" she trailed off, not quite sure what else to say.

Did he really, never smile after Kagome died? Thinking back through the days, Riku realized that what she was saying was true. He never did smile after Kagome died, no matter how hard he tried. The smile would reach his lips, but his eyes would remain the same, empty aqua. The epiphany made him kind of appalled by himself.

"It's nice to be back" Riku stated, and indeed, it was. The thought of Kagome's eventual return lifted a strange weight that pressed against his chest and shoulders, a weight that he had carried alone for the past month. He felt lighter, more optimistic, and more like his former self. He could only hope that the feeling would stay with him.

"That's all I wanted to say. You should probably get to training" she whispered. Riku silently agreed with her, continuing his journey to his room to finish dressing before traveling to his designated training grounds. Leon and Cloud decided to train the two boys in different areas to make sure they wouldn't be distracted by each other. It was obvious that the two were the most competitive of rivals, despite being the best of friends.

Kairi watched as he stepped into his bedroom and shut his door before curiously glancing in on the coeurl and its ward. The animal hadn't moved since they left it, and was still watching contentedly at the black haired girl's still, un-breathing form.

The sun was beginning to rise, and could be seen through the window next to Kagome's bed. The first bit of radiance shone brilliantly through the clear glass, and covered everything it touched with a light, golden sheen. First, the golden dye crept along the bed before alighting on the coeurl's black noise. It continued to expand until it covered the coeurls face. Then, the sun continued to rise further and further into the sky, finally covering the entire animal in it's warmth.

Upon seeing the coeurl lit up entirely by the light of the rising sun, Kairi was awed by the complete force of the animal's majesty and proud sophistication. The coeurl was beautiful in the dark, but absolutely breathtaking in the light. She stared at the creature for much longer than she intended, and by the time Kairi realized how long she'd been staring, she was half an hour late to her magic lesson with Merlin. Alarmed, she quickly spun around and was about to leave the room when a strange movement caught her eye.

Looking one last time at the coeurl, she noticed a small white wisp of something coming out of its back. The substance gradually took shape and almost began to solidify, darkening and losing its transparency. When the shifting was complete, the form could still be seen through, and the exact shape still remained slightly undefined. Kairi squinted in hopes that it would help clear the image, but the effort was fruitless.

The light inched higher, and the wispy being became clear.

When the sun's rays hit the animal just right, Kairi could see the silvery form of a boy standing over the animal, towering over the bed and gazing down at Kagome. She could see the silvery form of a boy with long hair and clawed fingers, and she could feel the sadness emanating off of him in overwhelming waves. Much to her disappointment, she couldn't see boy's the face from her position by the door.

The image only lasted for a moment, but Kairi could not convince herself that it wasn't there. She decided that she would tell the other committee members about what she saw in hopes that they might have an explanation. Unless tangible spirits were everyday occurrences in the world the coeurl came from, she was sure the coeurl in front of her was not normal.

No _normal_ animal was possessed by a spirit, good or bad, that could be seen by the naked eye. Of that, she was sure.

To Be Continued...


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own _Inuyasha_, _Kingdom Hearts_, or anything produced by Disney. I also don't own anything that was produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue.

My Story's Ending

Chapter 3

firefox369

"Give up, Riku!" Cloud commanded, noticing that his student was much more aggressive than the day before. Something had happened to the young man over the course of the night, but what?

Riku smirked, a bead of sweat dripping down his face as he slashed again. "It's not even noon, Cloud."

The man easily parried Riku's attack, shoving the boy away. Riku skid back a few feet before stopping. His balance had really improved over the last day and a half, as he didn't even falter and continued to hold his sword in front of him. Perseverance and fatigue shone in his eyes, but he refused to back down from the spar. Cloud knew that Riku would not stop until he once again collapsed from exhaustion, a thought that made the blonde frustrated, but very, very proud.

"Did something happen last night?" Cloud questioned, truly curious as Riku charged. Their blades clashed in a flurry of sparks, each opponent trying to overpower the other. As the spark pittered out, Cloud could see the dangerous smile curving on Riku's lips, and narrowed his eyes in challenge.

"Nothing happened. I slept" Riku replied simply, hopping away and taking a defensive stance. He needed to regain his breath if he wanted to last as long as he did the day before.

"Hm" Cloud grunted, speeding at the teen and swinging his large blade with all his stength. Riku, not expecting the sudden burst of movement, raised his blade to block, knowing it was too late to evade the blow. The practice sword shattered, metal shards spraying across the clearing and cutting both of them. The smallest shards seemed to hang in the air like dangerous, glittering vapor as they drifted to the ground. Riku's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and he chucked the hilt to his feet before lashing out his right fist. Cloud easily caught it with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought you said no magic" he commented and Riku glared, panting. His fist was covered in flames that licked away at the man's gloved hand. Smoke drifted in the air, reeking of burnt leather and flesh. The flame quickly petered out, and Riku let his hand drop to his side. The area around his hand glowed before his keyblade formed in his grip.

"I take back what I said. Let's make this fight realistic" the teenager suggested, stepping back and lowering himself into his most comfortable stance. Cloud remained silent, watching quietly as Riku's blade drifted back and forth like a cobra waiting to strike. This was the first time he saw Riku use this form of attack, and the stoic mentor was wonderng what moves Riku had hidden up his sleeves.

"Might want to fetch Sora's girl, then" Cloud stated, "or you'll be dead by the time I'm through with you." Cloud widened the space between his legs, also taking his traditional fighting stance. He went easy on Riku before, and it seemed Riku was doing the same with him. This next match would be, without a doubt, exciting.

"I wouldn't be so sure" Riku warned.

"Riku! Cloud! Time for lunch!" Kairi called, Sora and Leon behind her.

_Crash!_

Kairi squeaked in surprise and covered her ears as huge bolts of lightning fell randomly from the sky, surrounding Riku and swirling around him. He winced when the electricity bit at his form, but waited for the largest currents to near him before countering. The electricity dove in, and Riku surrounded himself with a barrier just in time. The bolts reflected, crackling in all directions. Leon summoned a barrier to protect the group of three, amusement on his face.

"Cloud's still holding back" he laughed. He had been on the receiving end of Cloud's most powerful lightning-based attack before, and this certainly was not it. Though this spell was just as flashy, the electricity in the air was not nearly as thick as it could be. Sora and Kairi gaped, not believing the sheer _power_ behind the spell.

"Are you sure about that, Leon?" Sora gulped. Leon's nod of affirmation made Sora pale. "Then you've been holding back, too?"

Leon's smirk was the only response Sora got.

Cloud suddenly appeared above Riku as the boy's reflect spell dispersed, sword raised in a devastating downward slash. Riku gracefully dodged as Cloud landed, a small crater marring the crystal earth where his large sword collided with the ground. Riku took this moment to slash, and was not surprised when Cloud backflipped out of the way.

The silver haired boy cast a blizzaga spell. The ice surrounded the man from all sides, freezing his feet and quickly making its way up his body. Before it made it to Cloud's knees, though, it shattered in a rain of water. Riku watched wearily as the water condensed into a large, liquidy orb.

Water spells were foreign to him.

With a flick of Cloud's wrist, the orbs shot hundreds of watery needles at Riku, and Riku rolled to the side. The needles bit into the ground, leaving tiny holes where they hit.

Sora watched, awed, as Riku cast a firaga at the sphere of water. The orb dispersed with a loud hiss, and the teenager charged at his teacher. Cloud stabbed his sword in the earth, making the entire ground tremble. The crystalline dirt rose dangerously, towering over Riku like a tidal wave. And like a tidal wave, it crashed to the ground and threatened to consume everything in it's path.

Leon scowled, racing in front of Sora and Kairi and summoning another barrier. Sora and Kairi, not wanting to be useless again, stepped beside him and reinforced his barrier with their own. The earth crashed into their wall of magic, shaking it and almost shattering it, but the people it protected remained unharmed.

"Do you think Riku survived that?" Sora whispered as the indigo dust began to settle. The dust suddenly spread from a large gust of wind.

"If Cloud's casting aeroga, then Riku is most certainly alive" Leon mused, watching as the topic of their conversation was lifted by the tornado and thrown into the atmosphere. Cloud shot up from the dust, a streak of the dirt particles drifting in his wake, and their swords clashed. Riku gritted his teeth, covering his sword in electricity and watching as it raced down Cloud's blade. Cloud winced when the sparks jolted his hands, but refused to let go of his sword.

"Hungry?" the blonde asked randomly. Riku's face screwed up in confusion, his mentor's words effectively breaking his concentration.

"Huh?"

Cloud suddenly smacked Riku with the broad side of his sword, knocking him to the ground. He made sure to pad Riku's fall with a float spell before landing lightly at the glaring boy's side, blade at Riku's neck.

"That was cheap!" Riku spat.

"That was fair. Ignore everything your opponent says during battle. Let's go eat; I'm hungry."

Cloud lifted his sword and strapped it to his back, leaving Riku on the ground to throw a mental tantrum. If looks could kill, the sky would be dead.

"That was _not_ fair!" he argued, sitting up and glaring at the man, but was ignored. "Hey! _Dammit_, Cloud! Go to Hell!"

Sora burst into laughter, and soon found himself on the receiving end of Riku's glare. He didn't care, though. No, Sora was just happy that Riku was truly acting like his old self again. Riku was acting the way he was before Maleficent tempted him with the power of darkness. It felt as if a large weight were lifted off the brunette's chest, seeing his friend sitting on the ground pouting.

"Come on, Riku, time for lunch" Kairi giggled, skipping over to Riku and helping the annoyed young man to his feet. "You can make him pay later."

----------------

_"You know, you're hair reminds me of some people I used to know" Kagome commented. "Granted, its not _nearly_ as long, but the hue is very similar."_

"_Should I take that as a compliment?"_

_"I guess it depends on who you want to compare yourself to. One was an overprotective brother who tried to kill me the first few times we met."_

_"That doesn't sound promising" Riku mumbled to himself. Kagome heard his annoyed statement and giggled._

_"The other was my first love."_

_Riku blinked behind his blindfold, actually liking the idea of comparing himself to her first flame. His group of three had paired off. Sora had Kairi, which left Riku alone. Besides, he had to find a girl some time. He quickly shook the thought out of his head. Kagome was a traveling companion and nothing else. When their journey was done, they would go separate ways and would probably never see each other again. Still, he _really_ like the thought of comparing himself to her first love._

_"But he was a two-timing jerk that cussed every other word, too."_

_On second thought, maybe not._

_"They both sound like they would be insults to me" Riku said. Kagome clapped her hands together and nodded in agreement._

_"I guess you'll have to compare yourself to the result. One supports me from the shadows whenever I return to my world while the other died protecting the jewel and me."_

_Riku thought for a while, and decided that dying an honorable death was preferable to working in secrecy._

_"What if I said I liked the latter more?" he finally replied. Though he couldn't see it, Kagome smiled._

_"Then I guess you and the two-timing jerk have more in common than either of you would ever like to admit."_

_---------------------_

"Hey, how's she doing?" Riku asked, stepping into Kagome's room. The coeurl turned to look at him, shifting over to allow Riku a seat at Kagome's side. The boy laughed lightly, gently sitting on the bed. The extra weight made the bed shift slightly, and Riku slowly, lovingly, ran his knuckles across Kagome's cheek. His thumb kissed the skin beside her eye. Her skin, though petal soft, was frighteningly cold. He wanted to see her cerulean eyes, too, but did not want to lift her eyelids to gaze at the glazed orbs that lay hidden beneath them. He missed her voice, her antics, her optimism, he even missed the undeserved mothering she gave him.

"We'll save you soon" he whispered, running a finger across her frozen lips.

A low purr reminded him that he was not alone, and he looked at the large cat. Its piercing, emerald eyes gazed into his own before the color seemed to soften into a soothing bottlegreen.

"You miss her, too, huh?" he stated. He hesitantly reached his hand out to pat the creature's head. Someone shifted slightly near the doorway and Riku looked up to see Aeris.

"You should get to bed. Cid has a big day planned out for you and Sora tomorrow."

"I can't sleep" Riku replied, eyes drifting back to Kagome's face. Aeris sighed, knowing exactly what was going through the young man's angsty mind.

"Tomorrow's your last day. You can do whatever you want after tomorrow, but until then it would be best if you listened to our suggestions. I'm not kidding when I say Cid is looking forward to try out his teaching skills."

Riku nodded, finally lowering his hand on the coeurl's head and tentatively stroking the soft fur. The coeurl purred, leaning into his touch and shutting it's eyes. The Restoration Committee member gazed fondly at the two. She knew that they would make a great pair if they tried working together.

"I'm going to bed, then. Keep watching over her for me, alright?" Riku murmured. The coeurl nudged his hand with it's nose and meowed to show its consent. Riku got up, the bed shifting to balance out the sudden loss of weight and pressure, before slowly making his way out the door. Aeris watched as he walked into his own room, shutting the door behind himself. Her own, emerald eyes turned cold as she gazed at the coeurl.

"Kairi told me about what she saw this morning. I've fought many of your kind before. Care to explain what you are?" she interrogated and the coeurl sighed before a strange plasma like substance came out of it back and took the form of a young man. He was exactly how Kairi had explained him, but aeris could not prepare hersef for the sheer handsome-ness of the male. He stared at her with eyes the same silvery white as the rest of his body.

"I'll tell you only if you speak of this to no one else." The man's voice was quiet and young, but rough. The sound was growly, like that of a carnivorous animal in human form.

"I can't agree to that."

"Then I won't spill a thing" he stated. Aeris hesitated. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. I'm here to protect Kagome."

Aeris remained silent for a while longer before giving in. "Alright" she whispered with a nod. "I agree to your terms. Now, who are you? _What_ are you?"

The figure smiled. "I'm an old aqcuaintance of Kagome's. I can't tell you my name quite yet. As for _what_ I am, I'm not quite sure myself. But, I _am_ sure that you've never fought anything like me. My kind are unique in this universe. If you're willing to stay true to your promise, I'll explain."

Aeris sighed, knowing that the spirit's bargain would not waver. "I promise not to tell a soul. You're secret is safe with me."

The young man smiled and his tense figure seemed to relax. "Well, the story is going to be pretty long, so I suggest you pull up a chair or something."

"I'll stand."

The evanescent figure shrugged. Aeris could see what would have been steely muscles ripple beneath the clothing he wore. A shiver of fear jolted through her body. If the boy were real, who knew what sort of have he could have wreaked upon their small planet.

"It all began not too long ago, a few years I guess. Kagome had this really fat cat named Buyo that just so happened to get stuck in a well house on Kagome's family shrine..."

-------------------

"So I go like this?"

The ship lurched forward, jerking the passengers and snapping their necks back in a painful arch. Sora was learning how to fly the new gummi ship (his motor skills deteriorated greatly over the few months), and his flying finesse improved drastically over the course of the hour. However, that didn't stop the fact that Riku felt like he was about to puke. As much as he disliked admitting it, all of the sudden jerks and swerves were making him sick.

Apparently Cid was having the same problem. The gummi engineer's face was starting to become pallid and sickly white, and even the mad twirling of his toothpick had halted.

"Try to be a little gentler with 'er, kid" the man commanded. His hand had an iron grip on the back of Sora's seat, barely keeping him from collapsing every time Sora messed up. Riku wasn't quite sure how the limb stayed connected with the rest of the body, and found the feat impressive at the least.

"Riku, start learnin' how to shoot" Cid suggested, pointing at a small outcropping in front of the main control panel. Riku obeyed, desperate to get his mind off of Sora's bad flying. Honestly, Riku was pretty sure he wouldn't be much better than Sora at flying at the moment, and opted to keep his mouth shut the moment their training began.

The ship lurched forward and Riku went crashing into the seat of the canopy, hand slamming against the weapons controls.

"Yep, press that button right there. The door to the cockpit should close and you can shoot to yer heart's content."

True to his words, the canopy doors slid shut, engulfing the small compartment in darkness. A spherical radar popped up, waves of emerald light pulsing within the the orb and expanding through the small grid. Riku sat in his seat correctly and fastened the seatbelt, looking around for the controls. When the belt clicked, a holographic keyboard formed in front of him a comfortable distance away. Like the spherical radar, the board pulsed at a steady tempo.

"Name" a voice echoed, and Riku paused before answering.

"Riku."

"Password."

"...Sengoku Jidai" he replied, remembering the stories Kagome told hom about her journeys. She didn't go into much detail, but she often used those two words when beginning her accounts.

"Account confirmed."

The sphere grew in size and floated closer to Riku so he could see it better. The keyboard steadily began to transform, a portion of it hollowing out and turning into another sphere beneath his left hand while a joystick formed in his right hand. The two objects fit snugly in his grip, and were tangible despite their holographic qualities. Gently, Riku tapped that small orb in his left hand as he pondered what to do next. The metal surrounding the canopy began to buckle, folding in on itself and disappearing. At first the movement alarmed Riku, but he saw the glass and quickly relaxed, wondering what view laid behind the opaque wall.

Thousands of stars glittered around him as the metal slid away, the dots of light contrasting drastically with the surounding darkness. He was stunned to see the metal nearly nonexistent around the canopy, making it seem as if he were sitting in space, surrounded by the stars with no barrier in the way.

Riku began to play with the controls, slowly rolling the glowing, holographic orb beneath his palm. The stars spun, shifting positions around him, and it took him a moment to realize that _he_ was the one to move, not the universe around him. Twirling the orb and rolling his palm against the smooth object shifted his view, and Riku found that he could face any direction he so wished, including up and down.

Leaning the joystick in a certain direction caused a crimson scope to move around his line of sight. Aiming the scope at a nearby meteor, Riku pressed a button at the back of the joystick with his pointer finger. A laser shot out and collided with the small meteor, destroying it.

The ship jerked forward and Riku noticed that the controls jerked with him, keeping him from accidentally shooting in some random direction.

Cid had really outdone himself on this one.

_"How you likin' it, Kid?"_ Cid asked over the loudspeaker and Riku smiled.

"Like is an understatement" he answered, spinning the orb and trying to get used to the rapid changes in rotation. The spinning made him dizzy, but he was sure that he would get used to it with enough practice.

_"Nothin' you see is real. The space and stars you see are all an image recorded on the exterior of the ship. Ain't it pretty?" _The man didn't give Riku any time to respond before speaking again._ "I'm bringin' Sora to the nearest heartless asteroid hideout. Get ready."_

Sure enough, an asteroid field was quickly coming into view. The spherical radar suddenly flashed red and beeped in warning. Riku glanced at it and saw some flashing red dots nearing the center from the left. Riku spun the orb beneath his palm to the left and three enemy vessels met his eyes. Riku centered the closest one in his scope, watching as the hollow circle turned green, before firing lasers at it. Holding the button down continued firing lasers, much like a machine gun.

The enemy vessel exploded, and Riku felt the gummi speed up. Glancing behind him, he saw that the meteorites were nearing quickly. The young man quickly got rid of the remaining heartless before more blinking red dots entered the radar's range. He began shooting at the heartless to the best of his abilities when he felt the ship swerve to and fro, spinning and twirling through the large floating rocks. The asteroids seemed to surround him, crashing and soaring around him as more and more heartless emerged. So many heartless were entering the globe-like radar that the silver-haired young man was beginning to panic. He felt small drops of apprehension beading at his brow, but dared not wipe them away.

_"Relax, kid. Panicking'll only make it worse" _Cid's voice echoed through the speakers and Riku took a long, steady breath. He shut his eyes to calm himself, letting himself grow more comfortable with the feather light touch of the holograms against his hands. The boy snapped his eyes open when he felt he was prepared and gracefully spun the sphere beneath his left hand. _Clic_k. A laser shot out from the ship and collided head on with the closest heartless. The monster exploded in a burst of fiery light. Riku smiled with satisfaction before repeating the twirl-click process. He was quickly getting the hang of it and had disposed of several of the heartless within a few moments. Twirl, tilt, click. Twirl, tilt, click.

When they finally broke free from the onslaught of meteors and heartless, Riku sighed with relief and instinctively clicked one of the buttons on what remained of the keyboard. The door leading to the cockpit slid open and Cid grinned madly.

"I think you kids are ready. We're headin' home."

Riku unbuckled the seatbelt and all the holograms faded, the metal moving back into place. Sora looked at him, grinning just as madly as Cid. The brunette really improved, especially during the last few moments of their flight in the asteroid field. Riku deemed his work worthy of praise and smiled at his friend. Riku grinned and gave Sora a thumbs up.

"So we're leaving tomorrow?" Sora questioned, turning the gummi on autopilot and relaxing against his seat.

"Yeah. We'll start looking for the first piece of Kagome's soul tomorrow at the crack of dawn."

To Be Continued...

Hope you liked this chapter! I'd like to give thanks to everyone who reviewed to the last three chapters, I really appreciate the feedback! Also, if you find any problems in the story _please_ let me know, and I'll try to correct them to the best of my abilities. Review or send me a message if you have any questions or concerns! R&R!!


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movie produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue. The plot is also based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. The plot will eventually begin to differentiate from the manga/anime written by CLAMP, so don't sue for that either.

My Story's Ending

firefox369

Chapter 4

"Take care of yourselves" Kairi commanded before grasping each teenage boy in a warm hug. "Take care of Kagome, too." The redhead glanced at the pale female in Riku's arms. Worry and fear darkened her expression, her hands clenching frustrated at her sides. Riku and Sora were leaving her to go on yet another journey, and the feeling of being left behind weighed heavily on her conscience. At least the girl would be able to join her companions if she completed her training in time.

A furry head brushed against the bottom of her hand and the coeurl growled in annoyance, as if saying 'Leave it to me.' The feline's emerald gaze pierced through her soul as Kairi glanced down, causing a slight shiver to course down her spine. "Alright," she agreed, "If Sora and Riku can't do it, I'll place Kagome in your paws."

The feline snorted, softly padding toward the gummi ship. Kairi wasn't quite sure if it was just her, but she could have sworn that the overgrown cat had a slight bounce to its steps.

"We'll be leaving now" Riku stated, nodding to Kairi, and the Committee behind her, in acknowledgement.

Sora grinned toothily, nodding confidently as he pointed at himself. His feet were shoulder width apart, his chest puffed out in pride and mock bravery. "Don't worry" the brunette cried, "we'll come back safe and sound, and with Kagome alive and kicking."

"I'm not sure if I like the sound of her coming back kicking, but bringing her back a live is definitely something I want to see" Kairi teased, placing her hands on her hips and smirking. "Promise me you'll both come back unharmed."

"Sora should be the only one you need to worry about" Riku sighed, nudging the brunette with his elbow in order to get the boy moving. "Come on, we don't have all day."

"Yeah, yeah" the younger boy grumbled, waving Kairi a quick goodbye before jogging up the ramp and into the gummi ship. "We'll be back in a few weeks!" The coeurl snorted and rolled its eyes. Sora scowled at the creature before correcting himself. "Be back in a few _months_. In _one_ piece."

The ramp started to slide shut behind the two boys and feline, and Kairi sighed in disappointment. Merlin gazed at her knowingly, a minute smile on his face.

"It's time we continued your training, Kairi" he informed and the redheaded girl nodded. The jets on the gummi ship burst to life and the vehicle rocketed into the air, blowing up dirt and dust from the paved streets. The cloud of sand consumed everything in its path. When Sora and Riku glanced down to look at their friends one last time, the small particles had already engulfed them in a golden haze.

"Where should we go first?" Riku asked, taking the seat beside Sora next to the control panel and placing Kagome in his lap. He was careful not to bump into any of the keys in fear of the ship self-destructing.

"I want to visit Belle, if that's alright with you."

"Does she have something to do with that 'Beast' character that attacked us on Destiny Island?"

"Yeah. They're together" Sora replied, glancing at Riku to make sure that traveling to Beast's castle was a valid idea. Kagome's life was on the line, and if going to Beast's Castle was a waste of time, then Sora was willing to wait a few more days to check up on his friends.

"Let's go, then. If Beast was corrupted by the heartless, then the place must be crawling with the little buggers. We can probably find something there that will help us find the first part of Kagome's soul" Riku said, leaning back against his seat and letting Sora fly them to their destination.

"I hope Belle's alright" the brunette whispered.

Riku shut his eyes, running his fingers through Kagome's long, ebony tresses. He knew Sora was worried, and dared not deny his friend the chance to check up on his companion. Riku knew the pain of losing someone because of neglect all too well. Even though his friends had told him several times that Kagome's death was not his fault, Riku couldn't help but relive everything in his mind. Her death could have been avoided so many times, but he ignored all the signs. His ignorance and neglect ultimately led to her demise.

"She's fine" he comforted.

Sora smiled, knowing that those two words were filled with conviction. "Yeah."

---

_Riku fingered the black blindfold over his eyes, tempted to tear it off his face. Kagome had once again pulled off one of her disappearing acts, hiding her aura from his senses and effectively blinding him even further. The quiet sobs, though, she could not muffle and conceal. The noise seemed to echo within the never ending darkness, entering Riku's ears from all directions. He wasn't quite sure where Kagome was because of the confusing reverberations._

_"Why do you always cry?" he asked, and Kagome's whimpers quickly subsided._

_"I'm not crying" she argued, but her voice trembled._

_"You're crying. Why?" Riku asked again. The girl remained silent, refusing to answer. He sighed and held out his hand in a random direction, palm up. "I can't see you, so you don't have to worry about me seeing you with tearstained cheeks and red, puffy eyes. I can hear you, though, and listening to you cry is not under my list for favorite entertainment."_

_Kagome laughed before sniffing and tapping Riku's shoulder. "I'm behind you."_

_Riku pouted and reached behind himself, holding out his hand in a welcoming manner again. "Come on," he sighed "I can't stand tears, especially when a girl is crying them."_

_"You are such a softy" Kagome teased, but placed her hand in his anyway._

_"If you don't want my comfort, then don't give me mixed messages" Riku complained. He wrapped his fingers against her petite hand anyway and gently pulled her closer. She was shaking. "I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but I'm willing to let you cry on me any time you want to."_

_The young woman placed her head against his shoulder and smiled secretively. The teenager was a lot more softhearted than he tried to make people believe._

_"_Such_ a softy" she repeated. Riku snorted, turning his head away so she wouldn't see the rosy tint on his cheeks. _So much like Inuyasha_ Kagome thought to herself, stifling a giggle._

_------------_

Kairi's body trembled from the mental stress of her magical training. The moment Riku and Sora left, Merlin, Cloud and Squall set to work teaching the girl the finer parts of magic. She had been practicing her wind spells (they found that she had an affinity for wind) for hours, and could now cast a very strong aero with minimal effort. Her teachers had attempted to teach her fire spells, but the flames were too wild and energetic for her to control properly. Lightning spells had the same result, for the charged bolts often crackled and broke through the confines Kairi tried to bar them within.

"Remember to stay calm and clear your mind, no matter how frustrated and tired you are" Squall reminded, knowing that Kairi's mind was drifting from the work at hand. The wind had become less controlled, chipping away at some of the surrounding rocks.

"Sorry" the girl apologized, quickly reigning in the air and compressing it into a tight ball. "I just can't stop worrying about Sora and Riku. What if they go somewhere and can't come back?"

"Sora isn't the type of person who breaks a promise" Merlin stated cheerily, holding up his wand and dispersing the ball of air floating above Kairi's hands. "That's enough wind for today. We'll move on to something a little harder for you to master."

Kairi blinked curiously. They had tried most magic spells with her already, and wind was the only element that did not completely disobey her commands. Had Merlin picked one of the elements for her to master despite the danger? She shouldn't have been surprised, she mused, Riku and Sora would need all the help they could get as soon as possible.

Cloud and Squall looked Kairi over once before looking at each other. The girl paled. If Cloud and Squall were plotting together, something bad was most definitely going to happen.

"Yuffie?" Cloud suggested and Squall nodded.

"I'll go look for her."

"Fighting?" Kairi squeaked and Squall glanced back at her.

"If you're going to join Sora and Riku, you'll have to know more than magic" he explained. Kairi cowered at the thought of training everyday with the hyperactive ninja. The woman was all rainbows and butterflies one moment, and death and destruction the next. Honestly, she wasn't quite sure if she could handle the ninja's lethal mood swings and pranks. Sensing her hesitation, Squall added "Don't worry, she'll teach you well."

The young woman sighed, shaking her head. "Not like I can avoid it" she mumbled, "but I really don't think I'll be able to keep up with her enthusiasm..."

"You'll get used to it after a while" Cloud assured. "She's not nearly as daunting as you make her out to be."

------

"_Do you think we'll ever find what your looking for, Kagome?"_

"_Of course."_

"_What will we do when we do find it?"_

"_We'll leave here, of course" Kagome giggled. Wasn't that obvious?_

"_We'll have to go different ways" Riku clarified. "Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"_

_Kagome laughed, confusing Riku to no end. "What's so funny?" he demanded._

"_We'll always be together, silly boy."_

"_But after we escape the darkness, we have to go different ways. I need to do something that you don't. You need to go off somewhere and do something else."_

"_You only see what's in front of you, Riku" Kagome sighed in disappointment. "Try looking without your eyes."_

_Riku quickly made sure his blindfold was still on before shaking his head. "I don't understand." He felt Kagome's small hand gently press against his chest, right over his heart._

"_Search from here, Riku. Feel from here." She then tapped his forehead. "Not from here. If you want to find me and can't figure out where I am with your head, try searching with your heart. You'll find me then. If you ever think you're alone, think with your heart."_

"_That's the cheesiest thing I've heard you say so far."_

-----

The gummi ship trembled as it landed, shaking and shivering until the engine was finally cut. Riku and Sora looked at each other nervously. As the sound of the engine petered out, they heard the soft chatter of heartless surrounding the outside of the ship. All Riku could see when he looked out the window was a swarm of glowing yellow eyes.

"Stay in here and protect Kagome" he commanded, getting up and setting Kagome in his seat.

"What are you doing, Riku?" Sora asked. Riku stopped right before he sat in the gunner's seat, glancing back at Sora with a deadpanned look.

"Get out your keyblade and hack any heartless that enter the ship. I'll clear us a path" he explained, plopping into the seat and reciting his password. The control panel appeared, along with the radar.

"Gosh, is all that red _heartless_?" Sora gaped. An entire plate of red filled the center of the spherical radar.

"Get your keyblade and get ready. Like I said, I'll clear a path for us. The moment I shoot an opening through the line of heartless, run toward the castle as fast as you can."

"What about you and Kagome?"

"Don't worry about us. We'll be right behind you" Riku assured, aiming and pressing the button on the joystick, making sure to hold it down. The short bursts of bright light quickly disposed of the heartless leading up to the castle, and Sora took this chance to open the cockpit and race out into the sea of enemies. Riku leapt out of his seat and grabbed Kagome, pressing the button to shut the cockpit and charging out of the ship. He made it through right as the door slammed firmly shut.

He readjusted Kagome to a more comfortable carrying position and bolted after Sora. The path he shot was already filling with heartless, and Riku found himself relying on Sora more and more. The brunette expertly slashed through the horde of heartless, raced through the mob and counted down the meters to the castle's front door.

"Just a little bit further" Riku informed.

The large doors creaked open and a candleholder hopped out of the castle, ushering the two inside. It blew on the flames of its candles, making the heartless rear back in the face of the flames. The two boys squeezed through the tiny opening and crashed to the floor on the other side in exhaustion, the door slamming shut behind them.

"I never want to do that again" Sora panted on his knees, releasing his keyblade in a flurry of light. Riku nodded in agreement. He accidentally dropped Kagome during his fall, and he was currently looking her over to make sure that she wasn't harmed. His breaths were heavy, though nowhere near as heavy as Sora's. He didn't have to worry about hacking at countless creatures, either.

A murmur of excitement raced around the two, and Sora laughed.

"Lumiere!" he cried happily, scrambling on his knees to the candleholder and hugging the animate object for all he was worth. The golden item made sure to blow out the flames on his candle sticks before returning Sora's embrace with a waxy hug.

"_J'ai manque beaucoup, mon ami!_ I really missed you, Sora! I'm assuming you found Riku." The candleholder looked at the young man standing behind Sora expectantly.

"Oh! Riku, I forgot to introduce you!" Sora cried, releasing the candleholder. "Everyone, this is Riku. The girl he's carrying is Kagome" he explained, waving a hand toward the former couple. "Riku, this is Lumiere."

Riku smiled slightly. "Hello" the older teenager greeted. Lumiere gracefully bowed in response, uttering a smooth _bonjour_.

"And the clock with the clock hands for a mustache next to the vase on the table is Clogsworth. He can be kind of easily irritated, so try not to get on his bad side" Sora chirped, ignoring the clock's offended stutters. "And there's Mrs. Potts with her son Chip over by the stairs. Oh! And over there is-"

"Sora" Riku interrupted. He felt bad cutting his friend's elation short, but they would have plenty of time to visit with the castle's occupants later. Right now, Riku needed find the first part of Kagome's soul. Fast.

"Why, isn't this just a _delightful_ creature" the motherly teapot laughed when the coeurl sniffed her and gently nudged her porcelain frame with its nose. The feline was more dedicated to protecting Kagome than the two boys thought. After all, it took guts to run through a sea of heartless without much protection.

"That's a coeurl. It's a creature from one of the other worlds" Sora chirped before looking around the main entrance one more time. "Where's Belle? Is she alright?"

"The mademoiselle is staying in her quarters where the heartless can't reach her" Lumiere explained. "I can take you to her, if you wish. I'm sure she would love to see you again."

"Could you? I have some questions to ask her" Riku voiced, speaking for the first time since they entered the building. "I need to save Kagome, and I think she may be able to help me."

Lumiere and Clogsworth exchanged knowing glances and nodded at each other. "Ahem. I will escort you to her chambers, as well" the clock informed. Sora fought back a sigh.

"Just don't give a detailed history of every object in the house again" Sora groaned. Clogsworth looked appalled by Sora's words and stubbornly crossed his arms with an offended huff. Lumiere sighed and began to hop toward the spiral stairs opposite of the large wooden doors.

"Come on now, we don't have all day" he called, grunting as he hopped up each step one at a time. Clogsworth cleared his throat as he raced after the candleholder and pointed at a portrait on the far wall. The clock opened his mouth to speak, but a sharp nudge with Riku's foot (the boy refused to call it a kick) quickly shut him up.

"Give me the whole spiel later" Riku stated.

"Why, you uncultured little-"

Riku glared coldly at Clogsworth, and the feline bared its teeth with a wild snarl. The ticking object quickly shut his mouth, gulping. The teenager just _oozed_ annoyance and impatience. The dark aura that seemed to emanate off the boy didn't comfort the clock much, either.

"Oh, I like those two, mom!" a child chirped excitedly. Riku knew the kid was jumping up and down from the series of small tinks that followed the ecstatic exclamation.

"Settle down, Chip" the mother sighed, shaking her head and smiling. Ever since Beast disappeared, Clogsworth had been increasingly irritable. Seeing the clock quake in fear was unsurprisingly amusing and morale boosting. She had to fight herself from joining in on her son's deserved jubilation.

"Hurry up, Clogsworth, or we're going to leave you behind!" Sora threatened from the top of the stairs, ushering for the object to hasten its steps. The clock hopped to its feet and quickly scrambled after the trio and the coeurl.

"Make sure to stay close together" Lumiere suggested, "Heartless break into the castle at random intervals, and we never know where they'll turn up. That means you too, Clogsworth."

Sora snickered behind his hands, and Riku couldn't hold back a guilty (but terribly humored) smirk. The coeurl rolled it's eyes and whipped the clock with its lashing tail. Clogsworth yelped and huffed again, racing a few steps ahead of the candleholder and knocking on a door at the end of the hallway. He was silent for a few moments before calling "Sora's come to visit with some friends!" He pointedly glared at the approaching group.

The door slammed open and a woman raced out of the room. Her long, brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and a white and blue dress accented her slim and graceful body. She held a thick book in her hands, but quickly dropped it and ran at the two boys.

"Sora!" she laughed, and the two embraced each other in a friendly hug. "Oh, I haven't seen in such a long time! How have you been?"

"I've been pretty good, but Riku, here, has been having some trouble. Do you think you can help him?" Sora asked, pointing at the silver-haired boy to his left. Belle's eyes were quickly drawn to the deathly pale girl in his arms, and she gasped in shock. She quickly stepped toward Riku and placed her hand on Kagome's forehead.

"We think the latest controller of the heartless was partly responsible for her death, and King Mickey thinks she'll be able to help us if we can save her" the brunette explained. Belle nodded in understanding, her eyes clouded over with thought.

"How do we save her?"

"Her soul shattered and flew off. We're trying to look for them" Riku said.

"We just started, so we don't know where we might find them, but they should be little light orbs that should fit in the palm of your hand" Sora added. Belle nodded, face scrunching up as she thought harder. A little orb of light? She wasn't quite sure is she'd seen one of those floating around recently.

"Sorry, I really don't know where a part of her soul would be. I haven't seen any orbs of light floating around, though, so I think it would be inside of something if there really was one in the castle. Feel free to look around the castle as much as you want" she offered. Sora and Riku both visibly deflated, but they both knew that nothing would come to them very easily. Their past journeys had taught them that little fact.

"Thank you. We'll do just that" Riku accepted. The coeurl growled softly, nudging Kagome's hand and running the length of its tail against her forearm. Belle gazed at the graceful feline with awe and admiration.

"Can you take Kagome while we search the castle?" Sora questioned.

"Of course!" Belle exclaimed, leading the party to her room and clearing her bed of countless books and sheets of paper. Riku gently set Kagome on the mattress, his hand lingering on her cheek, before he turned away and walked out of the room with Sora. The coeurl decided to stay behind. The girl's soul was important, yes, but the cat had a feeling that leaving the two girls unprotected would not be a good idea.

As the door shut behind the two boys, they each pointed in different directions, nodded, and split up to search the castle separately. They would cover twice the ground that way. If the soul really did not reside within the castle, they could leave sooner and continue their search elsewhere.

_Crash!_

Riku jolted, accidentally dropping the priceless vase he held in his hands. The vase hit the ground and shattered, but the boy was not worried about that at the moment. He just heard a lightning spell coming from the direction of Belle's room, and was worrying more about Kagome's safety. He was about to run back when goldenrod eyes surrounded him in the darkness of the dimly lit castle. The shadows around the countless eyes formed into Cimmerian bodies. The heartless apparently broke into the castle.

Riku summoned his keyblade and felt the comforting weight form in his hand. He lunged toward the shadows, hacking and slashing at the heartless with annoyance bubbling in his veins. When he killed one heartless, another seemed to take its place. If things continued the way they were, he would never break through and reach Kagome.

The roar of a fire spell came from the direction of Belle's room, as well. He was really worried now.

"I don't have time for this!" he shouted, irritated, and cast his strongest fire spell in a fit of anger. The heartless all disappeared in a burst of light and ash, finally allowing him a path to race through. He ran straight to Belle's room, arriving just as another lightning spell crashed in the doorway.

"Get him!" Clogsworth's voice cackled, followed by a thrilled roar. Belle's laughter soon followed, severely confounding the teenager. Just what exactly was going on in there?

"Behind!" Lumiere's voice cried. The coeurl's snarl ripped through the air, followed by a sharp snap of lethal jaws. Riku stepped into the room to a strange sight. Belle, Kagome and Lumiere were on the bed unharmed. Clogsworth was perched atop the coeurl, which was low and ready to pounce. Petrified statues of several heartless littered the room, along with piles of ashes. Still, more heartless appeared and lunged at the feline.

The coeurl roared and a beam of light shot out from its form, petrifying or destroying all the heartless unlucky enough to be nicked by the laser. Riku watched in amazement, never seeing such a powerful attack come from a non-heartless or non-nobody creature before.

"Riku!" Belle greeted, waving the boy into the room. "Did you have any luck?" Riku shook his head. "Sora didn't have any luck, either. He went to the outside of the castle to help stop the inflow of heartless, if you're wondering where he is."

The coeurl's claws ripped through another heartless, and it gave a bestial attempt at a laugh.

"Well, you guys seem to have things covered in here" Riku mused, glancing out the window in hopes of finding Sora. Instead, a pair of glowing red eyes caught his attention. The incarnadine gaze came from something perched on the castle rooftop. "Can you tell me how to get there?" Riku asked, pointing at the red eyes. Belle followed his gaze and nodded.

"Go to the west wing and go to the room at the end of the hallway. The room has a balcony leading right over that ledge. If you're careful, you should be able to get to the red-eyed creature."

"Thanks." With that, Riku raced out of the room and ran to the west wing. The heartless reduced considerably. Sora was doing a good job stopping the heartless from entering the castle. Riku just hoped that his friend wasn't too injured.

"Room at the end of the hallway" he panted, slamming open the door and stumbling over broken chair. He ignored it, along with the shredded state of the room, and ran out onto the balcony. There! The owner of the crimson eyes was just below him and a little to the left. Riku leapt off the balcony and stabbed the creature with his keyblade with all his might, and was surprised when the thing shattered in an explosion of light. Stone fragments scratched at his body, cutting through his clothing and skin. The creature was a gargoyle?

A pillar of light broke through the clouds, crashing down on the remnants of the gargoyle. Wind whipped madly at the castle, cleansing it of all the heartless and blowing away the dark clouds in the sky. When the light cleared and the wind slowed, the castle was a brilliant white and almost glittered in the light of the bright sun.

But that was not what occupied Riku's concentration. Right in front of him was the first orb of Kagome's soul. He reached out to grab it, but watched it slip out of his reach and plummet to the earth below. Fear gripped his heart. What if it hit the ground and shattered? What if it flew away again? What if it disappeared in a flash of light before it hit the ground? Not liking any of the scenarios that were racing through his head, he sped down the sloped roof and jumped when he reached the edge. He dove after the small sphere, the possible result of his actions gliding out of his mind. The only thing he could think about was getting that portion of Kagome's soul.

"Riku!" Sora screamed, terrified for his friend.

Riku reached as far as he could and laughed when he grabbed the small sphere. He held it close to his chest, watching as the ground neared. How was he going to get out of this one? Before he could figure his fate out, his vision went white. Everything turned white, and he found that he was no longer falling, but was on solid ground in the white nothingness.

"Acting before thinking, just like usual" a feminine voice laughed. Riku recognized the voice and slowly looked behind himself with wide eyes.

"Kagome?" he breathed.

"Ding ding ding! We've got a winner" she sang, holding out her arms. The teenager turned around fully and was about to accept her hug offer, but she faded right before he could fully embrace her.

"Kagome?" he called softly when she dispersed in a burst of light. "Kagome?"

"Sorry Riku, I guess you'll have to wait a little longer" her voice echoed, her remorse resounding in his ears and heart. The white nothingness darkened to gray, then to black. Then, Riku lost sense of everything and was consumed by the overwhelming shadows.

To Be Continued…


	6. Chapter 5

**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movie produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue. The plot is also based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. The plot will eventually begin to differentiate from the manga/anime written by CLAMP, so don't sue for that either.

My Story's Ending

Chapter 5

firefox369

"Riku!" Sora screamed when he say the teenager plummeting from the top of the castle. He began to sprint toward his friend, but knew he wouldn't be able to catch the boy's falling body. A flash of light engulfed Riku, blinding Sora and forcing the brunette to stop in order to rub the spots out of his eyes. "Riku!" he shouted again, blinking and squinting at the rapidly falling light.

A few moments before Riku hit the ground, the coeurl hopped out of Belle's window and caught him, ricocheting off the opposite wall and landing on tiled earth completely unharmed. It gently loosened its strong jaws and set Riku on the ground. The silver haired boy was unconscious, but his eyebrows were furrowed.

"Is he alright?" Belle asked as she slammed through the door leading to the courtyard. "He isn't hurt, is he?"

"He's fine" Sora stated, patting the coeurl on the head. "Good job, kitty."

Riku's teal eyes suddenly snapped open and he sat up with a start. He looked around wildly before looking in his clenched hand to see the orb he risked his life to capture. It glowed obediently in the palm of his hand, and no longer floated or tried to escape. Riku heaved a huge sigh of relief and lowered his head in satisfaction. The teenager stumbled to his feet, still shaky from the fall, and slowly started to make his way into the castle.

"Riku, you should rest" Sora suggested, running to Riku's side and allowing him to lean against him for support. Riku stubbornly shook his head, holding the small orb up to his face and gazing at it with muddled, but worried, eyes. "I can give it back to Kagome if you want, but you need to rest."

"Says the one who battled heartless all day" Riku snorted, rolling his eyes. "If anyone needs to rest, its you."

"_I_ wasn't the one who jumped off a building" Sora argued.

"Jumping hardly requires energy."

"But it's scary!"

"Sora, let him see Kagome" Belle laughed. The coeurl growled in agreement beside her.

"Fine" Sora pouted, leading Riku to Belle's room. Lumiere and Clogsworth trailed behind them with the anxious coeurl at their heels. Its emerald eyes watched the two human males curiously, wondering just how they planned to implant the orb into Kagome. The argument that would ensue would probably be amusing to watch. When they reached Belle's room, Lumiere and Clogsworth each pulled up a chair for the two boys, one on either side of the large bed. Riku sat in the one closest to the door while Sora took the one nearest to the window.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Sora questioned, looking at Riku expectantly. Riku blinked owlishly in response.

"You mean you don't know, either?" he stated monotonously.

"I thought you knew how to give Kagome her soul back. You talked to Merlin and King Mickey more than I did."

"I thought you got the details."

"She's _your_ girlfriend."

"She's _your_ ward until we're done with this latest adventure."

"_Our_ ward" Sora corrected before deflating. "We both screwed up, huh? Do we feed it to her or something? Shove it in her mouth and hope she can swallow it?"

"I'd rather not try that, Sora" Riku commented, glancing at the orb, then at Kagome's mouth. The portion of her soul would definitely _not_ fit. He'd rather not deal with a dead Kagome with soul lodged in her throat.

"Then what do we do?"

"I don't know. Here, hang on to this while I check the library for some possible answers" Riku sighed, lobbing the ball to Sora. Sora reached up to catch it, but it bounced off his fingertips and shattered against Kagome's chest. The remnants glittered teasingly against the cloth of Kagome's clothes, sparkling tauntingly at the two boys. "Great. You broke it" Riku groaned, sliding his palm down his face in exasperation. "Now what are we supposed to?"

"_I _broke it? _You _were the one who threw it!" Sora argued.

"I didn't throw it hard. It was a pass. It was meant to be an easy catch" Riku retorted. "Not my fault you can't catch worth crap."

"I've caught several things in my life, thank you very much!" the brunette pouted, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, and a certain spherical object just had to be the unlucky one, right?" The coeurl watched them in amusement, its expectations clearly met. The boys didn't even notice that Kagome was beginning to glow with a faint, white light. The glitter was fading, sinking into her body.

"You didn't give me enough of a-"

Sora was interrupted when the light intensified. The glow seemed to suck the words out of Sora's breath and convert them into energy. The light never became blinding, but waned before it reached the point of painfulness. When the light disappeared completely, Kagome's once pallid skin was flushed with color, and her chest rose and fell with her shallow breaths. Sora stared at her, his mouth agape.

"Her skin has color" Sora breathed, excitement building up in his chest. "See, I told you that breaking the soul on her was a good idea!"

Riku stared at him blankly, clearly not amused. "Since when was shattering the thing your idea? You were blaming me for it just a second ago."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. She's alive. Riku, she's alive! She's alive!" he cheered, hopping up and punching the air. "Riku, she's breathing! She's-"

"-not waking up" Riku finished, trailing his fingertips down her cheek with a sad smile. "But she is breathing. That's an improvement. And her skin isn't cold anymore."

"Riku, are you alright?" Sora asked softly, worrying over the expression that was hidden behind his friend's long, pale bangs. The coeurl trotted to Riku's side and purred soothingly.

"I'm fine" Riku laughed, looking at Sora with relief in his eyes. "I'm just... Kagome's _alive_, Sora. Thank the gods, she's breathing. She's _safe_."

He collapsed into his chair and leaned back, chuckling to himself. Sora watched, even more worried now. Riku never was particularly fond of repeating himself, and especially was not fond of repeating anything someone else said. Something was obviously wrong with the young man, and Sora intended to figure out exactly what. Unfortunately, before Sora got a chance to ask, Belle and the others ushered everyone out of the room until only Riku, Kagome and the coeurl were left.

"How come the cat gets to stay in there?" Sora whined.

"Riku's not going to be able to focus. If something attacks, the cat will protect them" Belle preached, talking to him as if he were a student and she were a teacher.

"But-"

"Hush now, Sora, let Riku have his privacy" Mrs. Pots chastised softly, nudging the boy's leg with her spout. "Come on, keep moving."

Sora glanced back at Riku before obeying and scurrying out the room. All he saw was Riku's back, but the young man's broad shoulders and lithe build somehow made him relax. For some strange reason, despite the fact that Riku couldn't stand on his own a few minutes earlier, the melancholic teenager looked like he could take on the world and come out undefeated and unscathed.

"Breathing" Riku whispered once he was sure that he was alone, and then he grinned. He gently brushed his fingertips against her cheek again, marveling at the faint warmth coursing underneath his touch. "Alive."

---

A blood-red creature slithered across the dirt path, its small claws digging into the soft earth and pricking tiny holes. In front of it, a young woman gracefully brushed out her hair. The comb she used had a unique blossom design at the handle. The snake-like creature smirked, slowing it's movements down and creeping up the stone bench the girl sat upon.

"Mushu, what do you think you're doing?" the girl asked, not even bothering to turn around. If the Guardian of the Sacred Tam-tam of Non-Awakening wasn't speaking without end, then the dragon was definitely plotting something.

"Dang, girl, no need to be so alert when your combing you black little strands" Mushu huffed, scurrying up the rest of the bench and crossing his arms. The young woman laughed through her nose and rolled her eyes before turning to face her husband at the other end of the small courtyard. How long had it been since they had gotten married? She couldn't remember anymore, which was bad considering they hadn't even been married a year. Then, how long had it been since they saved China from the Hun invasion?

She shook her head to clear her mind. Thinking back that far hurt her head even more. Mulan was a master at creativity and determination, but dates and times were practically foreign to her. To her, the only thing that mattered was surviving the passing seasons and keeping her family well supported and taken care of.

_Chirp. Chirp._

"Not now, Cri-kee" she said, patting the violet cricket on the head and taking extra precaution to not crush it in the process. "I'm to help Mama and Grandma prepare dinner. We can't prance off whenever we please."

The cricket's chirping grew louder and more insistent. Soon, it was hopping up and down on Mulan's lap. Mushu snatched it by the antennae mid-leap and glared at it. Its noises were really starting to hurt his ears. Cricket gave one last chirp, which provoked the dragon enough to want to squish the stupid insect.

"Shut up, would you? Giant bamboo shoots falling from the sky? What the heck are you talking about, Cri-kee?" the dragon looked up at the sky and saw that indeed, a giant, metal object was falling from the expanse of cerulean. And it did look suspiciously like the young bamboo shoots he liked to pick out of the ground and pickle...

"Giant bamboo shoots?" Mulan repeated, gazing thoughtfully at the comb in her hands. "Didn't Sora used to visit us in one of those?"

Mushu perked up at the name, glancing at Cri-kee as the bug gave an undignified chirp. "Well if you knew, then why didn't you tell us sooner, Cri-kee? Come on, Mulan! We gotta go say hi!"

He was about to race off towards the direction the bamboo shoot was headed, but was stopped when the young woman reached out and grabbed his tail with one hand while combing her hair out with the other. Mushu pouted, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "What are you doing sitting there like that great _guardian dragon_ statue?" he questioned, placing a lot of emphasis on the words 'guardian dragon.'

"They will come and find us in time, Mushu. Besides, unlike that guardian dragon my ear hasn't been hacked off" Mulan teased.

The dragon huffed. "That was an accident! He didn't want to wake up so I though a nice little love pat would bring him back to life."

Cri-kee snorted and hopped onto Mulan's shoulder as Shang made his way over. He, too, had spotted the strange object in the air.

"I'll go pick Sora up if you'd like" he volunteered, knowing his wife dearly missed the child. Honestly, he missed the boy as well. The small, snake-like dragon looked up at the man expectantly. "Yes, you can come along-"

"Yes!"

"-if you don't act brashly."

Mushu scowled. "But we're talking Sora here! _Sora! _The kid's practically the king of brashiality!" Shang cocked a brow at the term and the argument. He clearly was not convinced. Knowing that he couldn't win, Mushu lowered his head in defeat and grumbled an affirmative.

"Be careful, Shang" Mulan whispered. "The heartless have started to return."

Shang placed a gentle kiss on her brow, making the dragon cringe in disgust. "I have my sword with me" the man soothed, patting the weapon strapped to his waist. "I'm a general, Mulan. I think I can keep myself safe from a few heartless. Sora and his companions will also be with me on my way back, so there's nothing to worry about." Mulan nodded and watched as her husband whistled for Khan. When the horse galloped to his side, he easily hopped on with Mushu clinging to his back. And then, they were off.

---

Sora once again glanced at Riku. His friend was off in dreamland in his seat in the cockpit. He still cradled Kagome in his lap, and it still didn't look like he was going to let go of her any time soon. A small beep on his radar made him look at the dashboard. Something was coming towards them. The brunette glanced out the window at the large expanse of grass, and at the small village in the distance. He then noticed a small black dot moving slowly, but steadily, in their direction.

"Riku, we've got a visitor" he said, opening the door to the gummi and stepping down the ramp to gaze at the dusty haze in the distance. As the thing got closer, he could make out the outline of a black horse. His friend walked to his side and also watched the small, sandy cloud. Kagome was left behind in the safety of the cockpit. "I think its Shang, Mulan's husband. Knowing them, Mushu's probably tagging along, too." As the form came closer, the two decided that the person _was_ Shang, and that he had seen their gummi from his home in the nearby village.

"Sora!" Mushu hollered, waving his clawed hand wildly in the air as Shang slowed Khan to a stop and leapt off. "What are you doing here? We thought you weren't ever gonna come back!"

"It's nice to see you again, Sora" Shang greeted, glancing at Riku. "I see you've found your friend."

Sora grinned, nodding. "Yep! This is Riku. I found him, and we came across some trouble a while back. You see, Riku met a girl while he was away." Riku felt uncomfortable when the man quirked a brow at him. "And someone kind of killed her." Shang's attention was drawn back to Sora is the boy spoke the words before he glanced wearily at Riku.

"If its revenge you want, I'm not sure I can help."

Riku was appalled by the idea, and quickly opened his mouth to argue. "No, I'm not after revenge. Her soul split up and flew off. I'm out looking for them. Sora and I have decided that the orbs would probably be in areas with a lot of heartless."

Shang's eyes darkened. "Well, we have had some trouble with heartless lately. I'm not sure where their hideout is, but they've definitely made a comeback. If you'd like, you can join us for dinner and we'll talk it over more then."

"That would be great!" Sora exclaimed, and Riku nodded.

"Would you mind if I brought Kagome along?"

"The girl? No. Bring her along. I'm not sure leaving here alone would be a very smart choice, anyway" the Chinese man commented, and Riku stepped back into the ship to fetch the girl. Suddenly, there was a loud rumble from the ship as it began to tremble.

"What the hell are you doing?" Riku suddenly shouted and Shang paled when he didn't feel Mushu's weight on his shoulder. The dragon had done something wrong. Again. And by the sounds of it, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Whoo! This thing is _sweet!_ What's this button do?"

"Don't press that!" Riku cried and a large cloud of exhaust fumed out of the ship's exhaust pipes.

"Oh dear" Mushu squeaked. Sora raced into the gummi and saw the red dragon sitting in the pilot's seat. Smoke was coming out of the control panel in unhealthy wafts of dark gray. Riku was leaning against the control panel, covering his face with one of his gloved hands and shaking his head.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Sora whined, slapping his hand on his forehead before dragging it down his face with a strangled moan.

"Mushu!" Shang groaned.

"Sorry" the dragon apologized, smiling nervously. "Guess they're gonna have to come over now."

The coeurl stepped out of Riku's room, where Kagome was stowed away. It glanced at the smoke and rolled its emerald orbs.

"Sora can go on ahead with you guys. I'll stay behind and fix the ship" Riku suggested. Mushu looked at the older teen guiltily, but Riku ignored the look and opened up a compartment beneath the control panel.

"If you say so..." Sora mumbled.

"Be careful Riku, the heartless have been attacking more and more often" Shang warned.

"Got it" he replied, poking at the wires dangling beneath the panel.

---

_"Riku?"_

_"Hm?"_

_Kagome hesitantly scooted closer to him and placed her damp cheek on his bare shoulder. She was crying again._

_"I still want to know why you cry so much" Riku said, wrapping and arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer. He hated to admit it, but she had wormed her way into his heart. Separating from her would be nearly impossible now. _Until death do we part_ he thought to himself with a cheesy grin. Gosh, she had him so whipped._

_Slowly, carefully, she reached out and returned his gentle embrace. Riku could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, and was positive Kagome could feel it too. Was this what love felt like? Riku shoved the idea to the back of his mind. He was sure that love was much more complicated than an increase in heart rate._

_"I'll tell you some day. I promise" she whispered._

_"Alright."_

---

Riku held up the flashlight and scrutinized the dangling wires with more confusion than he thought possible. How exactly had Cid put this thing together? He could barely figure out if all the wires were connected on both ends!

The coeurl growled and Riku scowled, swatting away the ribbon-like tip of it's tail. "Not now" he grumbled. The coeurl growled again, smacking the back of his head with a light lash of it's tail. "Stop it!"

His command was defied with a jerky kick of the coeurl's hind paw. Finally having enough of the abuse, Riku turned to glare it only to come face to face with dozens of glowing, yellow eyes. A look of disgust filled his cerulean eyes, and he summoned his keyblade. One glance out the window told him that it had been dark for a while, and that he had forgotten to shut the door leading to the interior of the ship.

"I wonder if Sora is having the same trouble I am" he mused, launching himself into the sea of darkness and hacking away with his sword.

Meanwhile, Sora had just begun to enjoy a delicious meal of jasmine rice and stir fried vegetables when he noticed a curious pair of yellow eyes staring at him from outside the paper thin doors.

"Shang, Mulan, I think we have company."

"Baba, please take Mama and Grandma somewhere safe" Mulan requested, standing up and drawing the sword she brought with her to the dinner table. Shang unsheathed the sword strapped to his waist and walked toward the door. He opened it and slashed the heartless before stepping outside. Mulan and Sora followed at this heels.

"Do you think Riku will be fine on his own?" Mulan asked and Sora smirked.

"Of course he'll be fine, he's got the fighter kitty with him!" the boy replied as he hacked a heartless in two with his keyblade.

"But he has a comatose girl to protect. Can he handle it?" she pointed out, swinging her sword in a graceful downwards arch. The number of heartless wasn't unbearable, but she could tell that the number that appeared continued to grow with each passing day.

Her words made Sora hesitate. "He'll be fine!" Sora stated stubbornly. "He knows how to fight!"

"Hey, is that chunky thing _glowing_?" Mushu questioned, pointing at the largest heartless in the mass. Sora looked and saw that the heartless did have a faint, purplish hue to it. Without thinking everything through, he charged at the heartless and stabbed at it only to bounce of it's large stomach. He landed roughly on his back a few feet away and slowly sat up with a shake of his head.

"Damn. I forgot I couldn't do that with those heartless" he muttered under his breath before stumbling to his feet and clearing the last stars from his gaze. He needed to get behind the bomb-shaped thing, but how was he supposed to do that when it was staring straight at him?

"Oh! I've got an idea!" Mushu cried, hopping up and down on Sora's shoulder. "Throw me at it!"

Sora stumbled in surprise as he destroyed another heartless. "What?"

"You heard me, kid! Chuck me at the thing!"

The boy shrugged, and obeyed. He plucked the small dragon from his shoulder and whipped him at the heartless. Much to his surprise, Mushu landed on the thing's face and squirmed around for a few minutes before resting over the heartless' eyes. The red serpent took a deep breath and spit out a tiny stream of flame on it's face. The heartless roared with pain and swung its arms around wildly in an attempt to free itself of the scaly little animal. Sadly, it's arms were much too short to actually be effective.

Sora quickly ran behind the bomb-shaped thing and swung with all his might, ecstatic when the heartless flew off its feet and crashed into dozens of the smaller heartless and destroying them before struggling back to its feet. Mushu was still clinging to it's face, though his grip had slipped slightly.

"Hurry up, would you?" the petite dragon cried, digging his claws into the creature's scalp in order to gain a better grip. The heartless once again roared in pain. "I can't hang on all day!" A glint of silver and the large heartless was once again knocked off it's balance. Mushu screamed as heartless fell over and landed on its face. Thankfully, Mushu let go just before it hit, and he crawled up Shang's rigid body to pant fearfully on the man's shoulder. "You could have warned me you were going to do that, you know."

Shang ignored Mushu's comment and stabbed into the creature's back. It exploded in a burst of light before becoming a small orb of light. The light began to tremble again, and Sora knew that it was preparing to fly off to another world.

"Quick, Shang! Catch it!" he shouted, pointing at the glowing sphere.

Too late.

The orb shot in the sky... only to stop a few feet from the ground and slowly drift back to earth, a small blur shadowing its surface.

"Cri-kee?" Mulan laughed, and the cricket chirped happily from its position on the small orb of light. Sora ran over and picked up the piece of soul, surprised to see that Cri-kee's miniscule weight could hold it down.

"Boy, is Riku going to be happy to see you" Sora snickered, gazing fondly at the soul. "Speaking of which, I think that's him over there!"

"Sora! The gummi ship is overflowing with heartless!" he shouted atop his coeurl steed, Kagome cradled safely in his arms. The coeurl skidded to a stop beside Sora, and Riku noticed the light within his friend's palm. "Is that what I think it is?"

The brunette grinned and patted it into Kagome's body, just above her heart. It broke over her body and covered her in glowing, silver glitter. Then, it entered her in another, blinding flash of light.

"Is she awake?" Mulan asked softly beside Shang. Both were watching the scene with curiosity and awe, as they had never seen such a thing before. Riku held his breath, hoping for the best.

And then Kagome's eyes fluttered open.

"Kagome?" Riku whispered, worried about the slightly blank look in her gaze. Were her eyes glazed over because of her recent awakening? Or was it an effect of not having the entirety of her soul? Kagome squinted slightly in confusion at Riku before she opened her mouth to speak.

"Sephiroth...?" she breathed.

Riku swore he felt his heart stop. "No," he replied. "Riku." Had she forgotten who he was? Had she forgotten everything they went through together? Was she truly-

"O Great Knight of Darkness" she smiled.

Overcome with relief, Riku dropped to his knees and chuckled. Kagome shut her eyes, the smile still on her face. The coeurl purred, but by the time it rubbed its cheek against hers in affection, she was once again asleep.

To Be Continued...


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movie produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue. The plot is also based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. The plot will eventually begin to differentiate from the manga/anime written by CLAMP, so don't sue for that either.

My Story's Ending

Chapter 6

firefox369

_"So you're a priestess, are you?" a voice mused. Crimson tinted eyes peered at her from the safety of the shadows and Kagome felt a chill run down her spine._

_"Do you have a problem with that?" Kagome snapped, not liking the aura the eyes gave off one bit. A fog of evil clouded her senses and nearly suffocated her. She had a difficult time standing under the onslaught of the menacing atmosphere, and was afraid that she may very well succumb to the chilling darkness._

_"A priestess" the voice repeated, laughing slightly. "I wonder how well you'll fair against the demons wandering these worlds. They're a little more... evasive than the ones you are accustomed to."_

_The time traveler's legs trembled with her weight and she eventually dropped to her knees. Her vision was going hazy and her body numb, but she could still feel the evil looming over her and threatening to consume her very soul. She would not let go, though. No. She had a certain boy to protect and she would not die until her final duty was fulfilled._

_"You can try to scare me, but nothing you say or do will make me scared. I'm much too stubborn for that you ugly bastard."_

_The figure laughed a laugh that echoed in her ear drums. "And I thought you holy saviors weren't supposed to swear."_

_"That's one place where you're wrong" Kagome smirked, feeling a comforting warmth enter her heart and fight the shadows. A figure with silver hair flashed before her eyes, strengthening her resolve. "I'm not holy at all."_

_A bow and arrow, formed from her violet energy, appeared in her hands and she aimed the weapon at her opponent. Red eyes, black hair. He was all too similar to Naraku, yet the miko knew for a fact that he wasn't. He wasn't nearly as manipulative as the spider hanyou._

_"I'm damned."_

_She released the arrow and the darkness exploded in fireworks of light. The man screamed in agony, but she ignored his howls. If he thought he could have taken her on, then he should have put up more of a fight. Strangely, when she could see again nothing remained of the man's body, not even the ashes that came with a successful purification._

_"Guess I'll send out the hell hounds" she murmured, eyes glinting with the excitement of the hunt. After this final battle, she would finally be able to rest in peace. She would finally be able to rejoin her friends from the Sengoku Jidai._

_She looked around the now lit up area one more time to make sure. She was positive now. Her antagonist was still alive. Not wanting to waste any more time, Kagome did the only thing left for her to do. The young miko finally opened her eyes._

_----_

"Damn lizard" Riku grumbled, sifting through the wires in the circuit board in an attempt to fix the space shuttle. "Stupid Cid. Why'd he have to make the thing so goddamn complicated?"

Riku grunted as he accidentally yanked out one of the thicker wires in the forest of electrical strings before groaning in pain. The entire metal plate landed on his face, smashing his nose and colliding painfully with his forehead. The impact stung, and he swore he broke his nose, but a light giggle made him stop the rant of swears that was about to fly out of his mouth. Gingerly, he lifted the hunk of metal and shifted it to the side to see bright, cerulean irises.

"Kagome?" he breathed. The girl laughed at his expression and traced a finger down the length of his nose. As the soft touch moved down his face, he could feel the pain fading away into nothingness. Thank god for that strange pink glow on her pointer.

"What are you doing, Riku?" she greeted, though her voice was strained and fatigued. Riku didn't care though. He was surprised the young woman could even stand after sleeping (or, just maybe, rotting) for so long.

"This isn't a joke, is it? You're actually alive and you're talking to me, right?"

Kagome laughed at the boy's hopeful expression. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm talking to you."

Riku dropped his wrench and sat up, slowly lifting his hand to pinch his arm. He winced. Yep, this sure as heck wasn't a dream. The girl before him was definitely awake, and she was talking to him, and staring at him with that all-too adorable gaze of curiosity.

"So, how old are you again, Riku?" she asked innocently. The silver haired boy froze and looked at her worriedly. Shouldn't she know? She always knew how old he was, even if he didn't tell her. Hell, the priestess knew how old he was the first time he met her and Riku was positive that she didn't guess a random number back then. Something was not right here.

"Ah! Kagome's awake!"

Riku looked at the gummi's entrance to see Sora. The brunette was holding a bamboo basket filled with what looked like rice and stir fried vegetables, at least until Mushu and Cri-kee poked their heads out of the small compartment. Kagome gazed at the entourage curiously before backing up and slowly hiding herself behind Riku's large, broad shoulders. Riku looked back at her, confused. Kagome was _never_ this flighty.

"Sora, why don't you go check to see if Kagome's still in there" Riku suggested, motioning his toward the small room to his left. Understanding the wariness in his companion's expression, Sora nodded and peaked into the dark space.

"It's empty."

Riku's eyes narrowed before widening in realization. So that was it. He gazed at Kagome for a moment before turning back to face Sora.

"Come on. Help me fix this thing so we can hurry up and get out of here."

"But we haven't said goodbye to Mulan and Shang!" Sora argued. "Leaving without saying goodbye would be rude! Besides, Mulan's family already made us lunch..."

"And if you don't eat it, I will!" Mushu chimed from the basket. Cri-kee chirped in agreement. Kagome giggled and peaked over Riku's shoulder, cerulean gaze filled with wonder. Riku fought back the blush that threatened to rise on his cheeks when he felt Kagome's warm breath against the back of his neck and her soft body pressing softly against his spine.

"Want to try some, Kagome? Mulan's cooking is amazing" Sora stated before holding up the basket invitingly. "Don't worry; they only bite guys they don't like. They make sure to leave the girls alone."

Mushu snickered at that. "Except for that matchmaker. Cri-kee pulled a number on that fat lady." The cricket chirped and puffed its chest up in pride, clearly happy about the incident.

"Knock it off, Mushu. Kagome's nervous enough as it is" Sora chided.

"Hurry up and get over here, Sora. We can eat after we finish fixing the ship."

"Yes, _mother_" Sora grumbled after setting down the basket of food, making his way to the dashboard and picking up a screwdriver. Riku rolled his eyes and gently nudged Kagome in the direction of the petite dragon (though he was positive that the little red thing was a lizard). She looked at him hesitantly before inching to the basket and kneeling beside it.

"Hi!" Mushu greeted flippantly, grinning mischievously. Riku narrowed his eyes in warning and the grin was immediately wiped of the dragon's face. He already broke the ship once and he didn't particularly want to break it again.

"Hi"

----

Sapphire eyes blinked nervously behind a curtain of strawberry colored locks. They shifted glance at the ground, then fidgeted uncertainly under the determined hazel gaze of a certain Yuffie Kisaragi. Kairi really wasn't ready for this whole weapons training business, especially if it involved shuriken and kunai. Throwing objects was definitely not her strong point.

"Can't Cloud or Leon teach me how to use a sword or something?" she whimpered. Yuffie huffed and held out a large shuriken, staring at Leon who was watching the exchange.

"Sora and Riku are both made for close combat. They need a long ranger to balance out the party and you just happen to be it" he explained shortly. Kairi clearly wasn't convinced.

"What about Kagome? Doesn't she use a bow?"

"From what I've heard Kagome's an all-rounder" Tifa commented from her perch atop one of the craggy, crystalline cliffs. The wind flapped her hair wildly and made Kairi think faintly of an epic, but cliché, movie she watched recently. "Sora and Riku won't have any long range support if Kagome decides to enter close range combat. Also, I've fought alongside Yuffie. I've seen her use the shuriken like a four-pointed blade several times."

Kairi looked at the shuriken for a few moments. She sighed and gingerly took the weapon from Yuffie's grasp.

"Besides, you have the right body type!" the ninja chimed, moving Kairi's hands to hold the weapon correctly. She then moved to Kairi's side and began adjusting the girl's stance. "You have to keep your stance wide so you can get more of a momentum when you throw it. Bend you knees a little so you're not so stiff."

Kairi dutifully obeyed, dropping her arms to her side so she could focus more on her lower body. Yuffie frowned and shook her head.

"No, keep your arms up. Hold the shuriken behind you. Bend your elbow a little, no straight limbs in this stance. Yep. Just like that. Now, the other arm goes in front to help keep balance." Yuffie placed her hand on Kairi's back and shoved the girl so that she was leaning forward. "There we go! That looks good."

The copper-haired female began to stand normally, straightening her back and lowering her arms again, but Yuffie gave her a tern glare and she immediately returned to her fighting stance. The ninja sighed and shook her head again.

"Your arms are too low and your back is too straight."

"You could go a little easy on her, you know" Aeris giggled as she walked to Leon's side and watched Kairi's training progress. "She doesn't have as much muscle mass or flexibility as you, Yuffie, and the shuriken _is_ awfully heavy."

"But Sora and Riku need her! I can't go easy on her or else she'll never finish learning in time!" the kunai-wielding thief argued childishly. Aeris raised a brow and looked up at Tifa. The martial artist shrugged as if to say 'Let her train the girl however she wants to train the girl.' Aeris laughed and nodded, wringing her hands together behind her back and placing her lips in a tight line. She would not speak to Yuffie until Yuffie spoke to her first.

Kairi felt her grip loosening on the large piece of metal and her arm trembling under the force of its weight. She gripped the shuriken's handle as firmly as she could in determination. She would not let go of the shuriken!

_Clatter!_

"On second thought, maybe Aeris was right. We should probably start with some conditioning..." Yuffie mumbled. Kairi blushed with embarrassment while Aeris grinned with victory.

-----

"Are we all set to go?" Sora questioned, looking around and checking things off in his mind. They had Kagome, food, water, clothing, healing items, the cat... "Wait. Where's the cat?"

"The big orange thing? It's outside playing with Khan and the girl" Mushu replied nonchalantly. Riku and Sora looked at each other before bolting out of the ship in a scramble of flapping limbs and crashes. Sora skidded to a halt, ran back into the gummi and grabbed Mushu before running back out again.

"You're not about to screw up the gummi again. Not after we spent all morning fixing it, at least" the brunette grumbled. His efforts were useless, though, considering he dropped the poor dragon the moment he stepped outside. Riku was obviously in a similar state of disbelief. His eyes were awfully wide.

Cri-kee was perched atop Khan, eyes burning with determination. Kagome met Cri-kee's fiery gaze with her own from her spot on the Coeurl's back. The two steeds looked at each other and snorted in unison, amused by their jockeys' competitive natures. Cri-kee chirped tauntingly at the girl and smirked menacingly. Kagome glared.

"Come on, Shou, we can take them on."

The coeurl grunted and lowered its head, finding the soft grass beneath its feet strangely interesting. Khan neighed with annoyance when Cri-kee chirped furiously in his ear.

"What are they doing, Mushu?" Riku asked, not sure if he would like the answer. The dragon looked at the silver-haired boy in disbelief.

"How the heck am I supposed to-"

"Whoa! Look at them go, Riku!" Sora cried excitedly, tugging on his companion's sleeve and pointing at the two forms sprinting across the large expanse of grass. Steeled muscles rippled beneath the skin of both animals in a mad dash to the finish line. Khan's slender legs galloped hurriedly, yet somehow effortlessly at the same time, while the coeurl's movements were graceful, but forced and slightly strained. The fact that Khan was built for speed and the coeurl for endurance became painfully obvious and Riku couldn't help but think of the race as a battle between predator and prey.

"Come on Kagome! Go! Go!" Sora hollered.

"Go, Cri-kee! Go!" Mushu cheered, but immediately stopped upon seeing Sora's and Riku's glare. "Uhh, yay Kagome!"

"No" Riku breathed, eyes narrowing dangerously. His hands clenched at his sides. The brunette glanced at him with confusion wrinkling his brow. "Stop, Kagome!"

"But she's winning!" Sora argued. The two animals changed the direction of their sprint and started to head towards the gummi. "Look! She's way in front of Khan!"

Sadly, Riku was already gone before Sora could finish his comments, racing toward the coeurl as fast as his legs could take him. That was when Sora first noticed Kagome's strangely pale complexion. And then, Kagome lost her grip on the steeled mount and began to fall. Mushu and Sora watched in both awe and horror as Riku lunged and caught Kagome before she hit the ground, sliding across the dirt and blanketing her body with his larger form.

"Riku!" Sora cried, running down the gummi ship's ramp and tearing across the field. "Riku, are you alright?"

"Kagome?" Riku whispered, swiping the bangs out of the way of the girl's slightly glazed eyes.

"I think I may have overdone it, ne Riku?" she laughed, wiping the sweat off her brow with a trembling hand. By now, Khan and Cri-kee had slowed to a stop and were watching the girl worriedly.

"Are you okay? You're not going to..." the teal-eyed teen trailed off, not wanting to voice his fears aloud. Kagome laughed through her nose at his question while the coeurl knelt by her side and gently nudged her cheek with its velvety nose.

"I'm fine, right Shou?" the girl mumbled, turning to gaze at the coeurl and scratch behind its ear. The coeurl purred, pressing its furred cheek against Kagome's face. Riku slowly got up, ignoring the aches and stings in his battered body. Sora stepped forward and offered his gloved hand to the girl.

"Can you walk?" he asked and watched as the girl tentatively refused his hand and struggled to sit up. Riku knelt down and easily hoisted her to her feet. He then decided that walking wouldn't be the best choice and proceeded to help her get on the coeurl. Kagome smiled at him and the trio plus steed slowly made their way back to the gummi.

"Tell Mulan and Shang that we headed out and that the food she made was yummy" Sora requested, patting Mushu on the head as they walked up the ramp. Mushu huffed and slithered off the hunk of metal, glancing back at the door roared to life and began to shut.

Cri-kee chirped a fast goodbye, fascinated by the loud noises the gummi made. A stream of fire burst out of the bottom of the contraption, raising a large cloud of dust before the ship rocketed into the air.

"Man, I wish I made thing explode. That would've been pretty" Mushu commented. Khan snorted and stomped the dragon under the force of its powerful hoof.

Meanwhile, Riku had just sat down, a limp Kagome in his arms.

"Is she...?" Sora murmured, nervous of what Riku's response would be.

"She's sleeping. Where are we headed?"

Shou purred and sat beside Riku's seat, ears flicking in Sora's direction when the boy stated "Halloween Town."

"Halloween Town?" Riku repeated.

"Yeah. The town constantly in a state of halloween. If heartless decide to show up anywhere, Halloween Town is definitely the first place they'll be. Lots of darkness and sneaky little kids running around."

"Then why didn't we go there first?"

"It's really far away from Radiant Garden" Sora explained, happy that he was the all-knowing one for the moment. "Beast's Castle was much closer, and Mulan's world is on the way to Halloween Town, so I thought we'd drop by for a while. You can't say it was a bad decision considering Kagome's alive and kicking."

"I hardly consider Kagome's state 'alive and kicking,' Sora" Riku stated somewhat bitterly.

Shou growled softly, making Sora sigh and nod.

"But at least she's alive. We don't have to worry about the time limit anymore."

Riku's silence was all the answer Sora needed to know that he agreed. Kagome was, after all, breathing and warm.

"Hey, do you think she'll help us when she's got all the pieces of her soul back?" Sora asked, glancing at Riku for a moment before typing away at the dashboard and setting the gummi on autopilot.

Riku sighed. "She doesn't have a reason not to. But if she does refuse, King Mickey will probably use the fact that we brought her back to life to make her feel bad and force her hand."

"Yeah, I guess. But wouldn't that make her upset? We'd be taking advantage of her kindness."

"We're already taking advantage of her powers as it is."

Sora snorted, tapping the keyboard one last time before spinning to face his partner with a skeptical look. "And you, my friend, are not doing a thing about it, are you?"

"I can't do anything about it, Sora. King Mickey needs her back to finish whatever the new bad guy has started."

"But _you're_ the one doing the hunting for her soul. You're bringing her back to turn her into a weapon."

Riku glared at Sora, fists tightening so much that his knuckles turned white. "Why the hell would I do that, Sora? I love her."

The brunette hesitated and tapped his pointer against his chin, deep in thought. His face screwed up in concentration as he tried to find a way to word his thoughts and make them understandable.

"Well, its kind of like... how do you know she wants to come back only to fight another enemy? She finished her task, and now your bringing her back to finish yours. How do you know that this is what she wants?"

Riku was speechless. His friend's question was innocent, but painfully truthful. How _was_ Riku supposed to know if Kagome wanted to come back? How was he supposed to know that Kagome wouldn't hold hatred, no matter how large of an amount, for him when they recovered her entire soul? He looked down at the girl in his arms, slightly broken at the possibility of her hating him.

"Sorry, I didn't want to sound mean."

"No, I probably should have thought this through more before I agreed."

Feeling guilty for adding yet another worry to Riku's already heavy load, Sora stood up and made his way to the cockpit. As he walked past, he gently ruffled his friend's long, silver hair. Gosh, he felt like _such_ an old man doing that.

"Hey, Sora?"

The brunette paused as the canopy doors opened to reveal Riku's usual spot next to the guns' control mechanism. He then turned around, smiling nervously.

"Yes?"

Riku didn't turn to look at him, but continued to gaze at Kagome while gently threading his fingers through her soft locks. "What should I do?"

"You should probably find out whether or not she wants to live again first."

Riku's words were soft and uncertain when he spoke. "I know, but what should I do if she doesn't?"

"Well if you really loved her, shouldn't you let her go?"

Sora had to strain his ears to hear Riku's next words, and even then he wasn't sure if he heard Riku correctly. Quietly, barely even a ghost of a whisper, Riku breathed "I don't know if I can, Sora."

To Be Continued...


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movie produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue. The plot is also based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. The plot will eventually begin to differentiate from the manga/anime written by CLAMP, so don't sue for that either.

My Story's Ending

Chapter 7

firefox369

"She's not going to wake up any time soon Riku" Sora commented, poking the resting girl none too gently on the cheek. Riku scowled and smacked Sora's hand. The brunette drew the sore appendage back with a pout and glared at his teal-eyed companion.

"That hurt!" he whined.

"Good" Riku replied as he got onto the coeurl and motioned for Sora to do the same. "Come on, we need to get going."

"You're not going to see if your new wardrobe is to your liking, first?" Sora teased. The older male was clearly not amused.

"I've worn this thing for so long that I don't need to see myself in a mirror." An underlying hint of disgust made its way into Riku's voice and Sora smiled sadly at him. Hanging out in the darkness for such a long time really made him a downer at times. "I hate this cloak. I hate this outfit in general."

Sora shrugged, glancing at Kagome again. Seeing Riku in that Organization XIII outfit bothered him to no end. "So we're just going to leave her here? What if she wakes up?"

"I'd rather leave her here alone where I know she won't get hurt than leave her with the people you told me about." The older of the two boys glanced out the cockpit's window and fought back the shiver that threatened to jolt down the length of his spine. True to Sora's words, the world they landed in was dark and extremely Halloween-esque. Everything looked haunted, from the trees to the strange skeleton creature making his way up the gummi ship's ramp.

Wait. Riku didn't recall opening the gummi ship's door.

He summoned his keyblade into his right hand. As if sensing his unease, the large feline hurriedly carried him to the main bridge. Riku gently gripped its fur in his other hand. His eyes narrowed into slits as the skeleton froze and lifted both of its long, bony arms. Sora told him about so many skeleton-like creatures that he wasn't sure if this was that Jack Skellington character or some screwed up nobody. The skeleton stared at Riku with its nervous eye sockets and opened its mouth to speak.

"Riku, I'm assuming? Sora came by a while back looking for you." The skeleton's voice was kind, but hesitant.

Riku let his keyblade disperse and loosened his grip on the coeurl's fur. The feline still had yet to make a move or show any aggression, so the thing in front of him must be one of the good guys. Still, he wanted to make sure. "Jack Skellington, I hope" he stated. The atmosphere wasn't violent or filled with ill intent, but he really disliked this tension. Where did that stupid Sora go? Oh yeah. He ditched him. Oops.

"Kagome just woke up!" Sora called from the cockpit. The brunette stepped out a moment later with a tired Kagome leaning against his stronger frame. A thick blanket covered her entire figure and looked like it had eaten her alive. She yawned and rubbed her eyes with her hands, the small fingers peeking out from behind the warm cloth, before she froze with shock. "Oh, hey Jack" Sora greeted.

Kagome screamed and scrambled back, accidentally stepping on the blanket and tumbling backwards in a tornado of limbs and cloth. The coeurl raced to her side, jerking Riku off its back with its sudden movement and making the young man slam against the metal floor of the gummi ship with a forced grunt. Sora watched before hesitantly laughing and scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry. I should have given all of you more of a warning, huh?"

"You think?" Riku groaned, painstakingly rolling onto his side and sitting up. He winced and rubbed his head where it collided painfully with the floor during his fall. "At least explain what's going on to Kagome before leading her out of the cockpit."

"How was I supposed to know that Jack came in?" Sora argued, making his way to the trembling girl. She was pressed against the wall as tight as she could, huddled against the dashboard with her knees drawn and cerulean eyes wide. Jack blinked, not quite sure what was happening.

"Come on Kagome, he's harmless." The look in Kagome's eyes told him all too well that she didn't believe him one bit. Sora hurried over to the skeleton and roughly smacked its back with his hand. Jack stumbled forward and scowled at Sora. "See? He won't do a thing! Sure he looks scary, but he's a puppy at heart. Kind of like Riku!"

"Excuse me?" the skeleton and the teal eyed boy quipped at the same time. The coeurl purred soothingly and curled its velvety tail around the traumatized girl, lulling her out of her terrified stupor. Kagome lifted a shaky hand and carefully scratched the feline behind one of its long, ribbon-like ears. It leaned into her touch, the purr growing in volume until it thundered throughout the small spaceship.

Riku thanked every god he could think of for dropping the feline in Kagome' care (or was it Kagome in the feline's care? He wasn't too sure who was taking care of who anymore). The animal had a strange power over the girl, a calming power that made the boy slightly jealous of it.

"Maybe she'd be more comfortable if Zero were around?" Jack suggested. "She seems like she would enjoy the dog."

Sora quickly shook his head, but Jack had already put his fingers to his lips and whistled for the floating creature. Not a moment later, the ghost-like dog flew into the ship and barked jovially at the skeleton. Kagome looked up from her place behind the bristling coeurl. To Riku's relief, she smiled.

"Cute" she whispered, holding out her hand welcomingly and whistling for the dog.

"His name's Zero" Jack introduced as the dog bounded over to her and sniffed her outstretched hand. Its cherry red nose twitched as it did so, and Kagome giggled. Shou the Coeurl growled and rolled its eyes.

"Zero" Kagome repeated, patting its head affectionately.

"Can we go to Christmas Town? I think Kagome would be more comfortable there" Sora suggested. Riku glanced at Sora questioningly. What was Christmas Town?

As if reading his mind, the brunette turned to his companion with a boyish grin. "Oh, she'd love it there Riku! There're presents and snow and elves and Christmas lights and reindeer and _Santa!_ Ohhhh, come on, Jack! Let's go!"

Jack chuckled amiably and nodded, motioning for the group to follow him out of the ship. The girl hesitated, but under the animal's careful guidance she exited the ship.

"Ohhh, you can do it Kairi! Only ten more to go!" Yuffie urged, punching the air and pointing at the exhausted girl. Kairi's arms trembled dangerously beneath the force of her body weight. Thirty push ups really didn't sound as difficult as they were. She thought she could handle it, but apparently she was wrong. Again. She looked up at the ninja, a bead of tired sweat rolling down her brow, and saw Aeris give her a wink.

Aeris's hand started to glow, and she waved it a moment later. Dusts of magic followed her hand's movements, sparkling in the air as they floated to the ground and disappeared. Suddenly, Kairi felt as if she could redo the twenty push ups she had just completed. Yuffie scowled and glared at the flower girl.

"Dangit, Aeris! How is she supposed to gain strength if you keep giving her energy?"

Aeris blinked innocently.

"Don't give me that look! I can feel the magic you used!"

Aeris looked at the ninja, appalled, before shaking her head in indignation. Yuffie growled under her breath and turned to point at Kairi with a malicious grin.

"Start over from zero, and this time, do it _without_ Aeris's healing magic."

Kairi groaned.

"This door leads to Christmas Town" Jack soothed, patting the traumatized Kagome on the back and nudging her towards the evergreen shaped entrance. "I promise that Christmas Town isn't nearly as terrifying as Halloween Town."

Kagome gulped and slid her hand into Riku's for comfort. Though he couldn't see it, he could feel her trembling and shivering with fear. Their little trip through Halloween Town to reach the Christmas Town entrance had really scared her out of her wits. She was chased by a werewolf, stolen for research by some mad scientist in a wheelchair, kidnapped by a vampire for her blood, mobbed by a group of pesky children, shoved under water and nearly drowned by some screwed up water kappa, swung at by a man with an axe in his head... the list went on and on.

Riku was pretty sure he'd have to knock her out for the return trip so she wouldn't be even more traumatized.

"Just think about it. You'll be able to meet Santy Claws and all his little elves" Jack explained, the dark holes in his skull gaining an impossible light and excitement. "And there's this white, cold powder all over the place."

"And all the Christmas gifts!" Sora cried, grinning like a fool.

She looked at Riku nervously, and her eyes lit up when she caught sight of something behind the boy. The group followed her gaze and landed on a magenta door shaped like a heart. All her fear was swept away, and she let go of Riku's hand to examine the door. She ran her hands over the smooth wood, marveling at its polished feel despite its rough look, before grasping the handle.

"Kagome, no!" Sora cried when she turned the knob and yanked it open. A cool wind swept over her body, along with the smell of sweets, and she smiled as she leapt into the dark abyss. The coeurl charged for her followed shortly after by Riku. Zero bounded into the tree next, leaving Jack and Sora to stare at the door with open jaws. They exchanged looks and shrugged in unison.

"Well, wouldn't hurt to explore some more" Sora reasoned, leaping into the tree. Jack looked at the door leading to Christmas Town before sighing and stepping into the heart-shaped hole. He hoped this world was just as nice and happy as the one in eternal Christmas.

A bubble in the shape of a heart floated in front of his eyes and he couldn't help but poke it with a long, skeletal finger. When it popped he found himself standing in a large bank of snow. Strange. He thought Christmas Town was the only land with snow.

"Kagome?" he heard Riku call. Kagome's laughter echoed in the air. And then, small little cherubs surrounded the group, tiny little wings flapping madly in order to keep them afloat.

"Wow" Kagome breathed. She looked at Riku excitedly and slid her graceful fingers into his calloused grip. "Cute."

Riku was about to agree until one of the miniature angels pulled out a bow and arrow. He wasn't too sure about their cute factor once one of the little blonde-haired babies aimed the arrow at his heart. Another one aimed an arrow at Kagome, a creepy smile on its face. What the hell were these freaky arrow-wielding babies planning? Riku glanced at the coeurl and took note of its amused expression. Whatever they were planning, it couldn't be that bad if the scary kitty was fine with it. Energy that he unconsciously collected into his fingertips, the energy he called upon to form his keyblade, dissipated.

"Aw, they already have it" the one with the arrow pointed at Riku whined, lowering his missile and pouting. "Looks like we have to wait for someone else."

"No they don't. I can't see it" the other complained.

"What do you mean? It's clearly _right there_." The angel furiously gestured between Riku and Kagome with his arrowhead. "It's a little faint and tattered, that's all."

"Oh. I see it now. What about the cat and the dog?" the other suggested, moving his drawn arrow from Kagome to Zero. The ghostly dog perked up, tilting his head to the side in confusion. Shou narrowed his emerald green eyes and hissed, every single one of his hackles raised in warning.

"We can't do that, Ezra, they're both boys" the first cherub stated matter-of-factly.

The second baby, Ezra, glared. He loosened the tension in the bowstring and letting the arrow fall limp in his hand. "So? They can be a gay couple."

Both animals reared back in disgust, growling and spitting their distaste at the thought.

"No. Cats and dogs don't mix well. Remember the last time we tried? We got that Catdog thing that the people captured and showed on TV."

"We'll just make sure the people don't catch them this time. Besides, two guys can't make a baby, Cupid. That would just be wrong. We're safe!"

Cupid's petite wing feathers ruffled at that statement, his cherubim face scrunching up slightly in distaste as he pondered the idea. Zero and Shou glanced at each other before charging behind their guardians in a sad attempt to hide from the slightly insane, flying babies.

"Maybe we should head back" Riku whispered to Kagome, taking advantage of the angels' argument. Kagome glanced at Shou and blinked. Pleadingly, desperately, the coeurl gazed up at her.

"Okay" she whispered in agreement. Everyone sighed with relief and started to make their way back to forest. Unfortunately for them, the angels noticed and immediately stopped bickering to make chase.

"Hey! We haven't given you a gift yet!" Cupid cried.

"Yeah! You're group looks like it could use a bit more love!" Ezra added. His tiny wings flapped furiously in his effort to keep up with the sprinting entourage. Shou, terrified at the thought of having to love a dog (_of the same gender!_ he hissed internally), gently grabbed Kagome's shirt with his fangs and threw her onto his back before racing forward at full speed. Zero, not wanting to be left behind, raced after him.

"Hey! Zero!" Jack shouted, clearly disappointed in his pet.

"Get back here!" Sora sounded like he was about to cry. What if the angels turned on him next? He definitely didn't want to be hooked up with anyone (_unless its Kairi_ a voice teased in the back of his mind, but he quickly shoved it aside). That wasn't necessary. He liked to choose the direction of his own love life.

As Zero and Shou raced ahead, Kagome riding on Shou's back, they didn't notice as they took a wrong turn and ended running right back into Cupid. Strangely, he was alone. His companion got lost somewhere during the chase and hadn't been able to find his way back onto the correct path. Giddily, the angel lifted its hand and summoned energy into his open palm. Shou and Zero looked at each other nervously, but Kagome stared transfixed at the brightness. Once the light faded, Cupid held a small, red, heart-shaped box in his outstretched arm.

"For you" he giggled, giving the box to Kagome. She hesitantly took it from him, and a strange feeling began to well up in her chest as she did so.

"What is it?" she whispered curiously, fiddling with the box's perfect white bow.

"You knew what it was once. You know what to do with it now" he responded cryptically, smiling at the young miko. "I'd like to give you another gift, as well."

The two animals slowly relaxed, realizing that the petite angel wasn't going to do anything to them anymore. Until Kagome began to rise into the air with an invisible wind. Cupid began to glow a soft pink, and the force of his power shook the very earth they stood upon, lifted Kagome into the air, and engulfed the undead girl in a blanket of that soft pink light. To the animal's shock, Kagome let that power carry her and shut her eyes with a serene smile. She could knew something great was going to happen if she didn't resist. She could feel it.

"For the girl without a soul," Cupid began, "I give a heart. It will not last forever. Be gentle with it."

The aura around Kagome pulsed three times before fading into her body and setting her back on Shou. Simultaneously, the energy around the angel of love faded and the pink light engulfed all three of the adventurers.

"Your companions are waiting for you."

Much to their dismay, the ground beneath their feet began to warp and tremble. It waved and shook, and then crumbled and shattered, dropping them into the deep, black abyss. Cupid grinned and cheerily waved at the trio.

"Bye!"

And then, they found themselves in Halloween Town, smack dab in the middle of the cemetery. Shou gazed worriedly at the shaken Kagome on his back before shaking his head and letting her get off. Slowly, carefully, she stepped onto the dead earth and placed a trembling hand on a nearby gravestone. It was broken, chipped away by harsh treatment and poor maintenance. A soft purr and comforting nudge later, and Kagome found herself on the ground, her hand gripping the cloth above her chest where her heart should have been. Something was calling out to her, the feeling so strong that it made her breathless and drew away her energy.

Zero barked and snarled, but all she could hear was the roaring of the blood in her ears and the desperate thumping of Cupid's gift, her temporary heart. She felt something roughly grab her, felt her being lifted into the air and taken away, but she didn't care. No. The only thing she knew was whatever was taking her was bringing her closer to that thing tugging at her soul. The pain became more intense, and she promptly fainted.

Shou tried to keep up with the creature taking Kagome away, but it was moving too fast and he quickly lost sight of it. He followed the trail diligently, and stopped only when he came across a small red box in the middle of the path. Its bow, though still white, was mangled and torn.

To be continued...

AN: Sorry this update took so long. I've lost interest in writing fanfiction lately, and I think I may stop writing. However, if I do end up leaving I plan on finishing all my unfinished work before doing so. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter! Read and review!


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movie produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue. The plot is also based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. The plot will eventually begin to differentiate from the manga/anime written by CLAMP, so don't sue for that either.

My Story's Ending

Chapter 8

firefox369

The darkness terrified her. She found herself in it when she woke up, and upon realizing that she wasn't able to escape it her heart began to pound. With trembling hands, she blindly grasped for something to keep her company - the soft fur of her Coeurl, the comforting brush of Riku's hand, the cool feel of Zero's muzzle - but her hand touched nothing outside of the damp stone and dirt.

She promptly began to cry.

Her sobs were silent and her tears were hot, but she forced herself not to make a single noise. Though she may not remember a lot of her past, something within her told her that remaining silent was the best course of action. Something within her told her not to make her capturer aware that she was awake, and she trusted that part of her.

_Don't make a noise. Don't make a noise_ she chanted. However, in the midst of her next inhale, the young miko sniffed. Within the surrounding silence, that slight noise echoed and thrummed in her ears. She immediately shut her mouth and furiously wiped the tears rolling down her face with the back of her arm as she waited with bated breath. When nothing happened she let it out in a relieved sigh.

"You're finally awake."

The voice was deep and growly, almost predatory in nature, and Kagome had to force back the squeak fighting to leap out of her throat. She felt hot breath fluttering against the back of her neck and slowly turned around only to come face to face with a pair of large, crimson eyes. The pupils narrowed into thin slits and Kagome nearly drowned in those bloody depths. Fear welled up in her eyes, and her heart once again began racing.

"R-Riku..." she stammered, trying to scoot herself away from the thing. Eyes contorted with mad glee. The creature hummed.

"I think not" it mused, grasping her ankle with its cold, clawed fingers. Finally, the tears she so desperately tried to hold back spilled forth from her eyes and the creature laughed at her. It opened its great maw, revealing rows upon rows of sharp, jagged teeth and releasing a wave of its putrid breath.

It was going to eat her.

_Oh, hell no!_

The young woman kicked madly with both legs when it began to drag her closer to its open jaws.

"Riku!" she screamed shutting her eyes and kicking as hard as she could. Light exploded from her body when she felt her foot connect solidly with creature's skeletal nose. The thing roared in agony and released her. She took that moment to scramble to her feet and run in a random direction, not noticing how though the light faded, she could see in the darkness as if it were as light as day.

"Riku, I'm sure she's fine. She's got Shou and Zero with her!" Sora shouted, trying to keep up with his spazzing companion. "I mean, did you see what that thing did to those heartless back at Beast's Castle? Zap! Bam! Ahhhh!"

When Sora squealed like a dying pig and pretended to fall to the ground like a broken statue, Riku rolled his eyes. Sora was truly ridiculous at times, but the brunette would always be his friend no matter how much Riku denied it. And his corny theatrics lightened the mood a little bit. Riku could already feel the faint tug of a smile on his lips and the bubble of laughter in his throat. Jack watched the proceedings with unveiled fascination. They were so carefree and happy! How was that possible? The girl, Kagome, was missing, along with their overgrown feline and his poor dog!

"Hey! See? Look! There's Shou and Zero right there!" Sora cried, hopping to his feet and pointing at the two animals charging their way. Something didn't seem right though. Something seemed to be missing...

"Where's Kagome?" Riku whispered and the smile dropped right off Sora's face. In fact, the two animals did look a little worse for wear, as if they had run a great distance in order to reacquaint themselves with their respective companions. They looked a little ragged and defeated. "Shou, where's Kagome?"

The coeurl growled mournfully and dropped its head, its graceful tail resting limply against the soft dirt. Desolately, the feline opened its mouth and dropped a small red box. Sora and Riku looked at the box with mournful eyes, while Jack stared on in curiosity. What was this new, fascinating gift? It was colorful, a vibrant red similar to the color of Santy Claws' tunic, and the pristine white ribbon was a white as pure as the untouched snow in Christmas Town. The more Jack stared, the more he wondered. Just what _was _it?

"Cupid gave it to Kagome, didn't he?" Riku inquired softly, bending down to grasp the small gift in his calloused hands. It was small, petite enough to fit in his palm. Shou purred and dropped his head before panting some more to catch his breath while Riku stroked the white silk with his thumb. Carefully, he untied the ribbon and folded it before placing it in the safety of his pocket. Much to Sora's dismay, he put the box in his pocket a moment later, unopened.

"What's the date today, Sora?" the silver haired teen asked. Sora pondered for a few moments, which Riku could understand. They had stopped keeping track of the days after they came across the first piece of Kagome's soul. Finally, Sora replied with a simple "February 12th."

With a nod, Riku motioned for Shou to stand. Once the coeurl did, he hopped onto its back and they turned towards the direction from which Shou came.

"You're not going to see what's inside?" Jack and Sora cried in unison, and Riku smirked. This smirk was somehow different from all his others, and it both chilled and warmed Riku's companions. The sheer determination in that grin was frightening and rejuvenating.

"It's not Valentine's Day quite yet, Sora. Opening it now just wouldn't be appropriate" Riku teased. "Come on, we have a priestess to find."

With a face-splitting grin, Sora hopped onto the coeurl behind Riku and gently grasped onto the predatory animal's sleek fur. Shou rocketed forward with renewed vigor at Riku's words, leaving Zero and Jack far behind with only a fading trail of dust to lead them in the right direction. Jack watched them leave, first in shock, then in pondering amusement.

"Valentine's Day, huh? Come on Zero. We've got ourselves some research to do."

One more breath and her lungs would explode. One more minute and her heart would burst. One more step and her she would never be able to stand again. Simply put, Kagome was feeling hopelessly defeated. Even leaning against the wall took an immeasurable amount of effort. So much, in fact, the she promptly collapsed to her knees with a resounding thud. The sudden sting, added on to her fatigue, immediately made her regret it.

"So this is where you've been hiding."

Kagome bit back a scream when those skeletal hands grabbed her and lifted her into the air. She flinched when the motion stopped, sure that the creature was going to chuck her at the cave ceiling. If she could lift her arm, she would have been able to touch one of those wet looking stalactites. Silently, she urged herself to continue thinking those random thoughts in order to keep her mind off the fact that she was probably going to be eaten alive at any moment, which would really suck because she had _such_ an amazing life ahead of her (now if only she could remember the life _behind _her), and she has these amazing super powers that can burn things off of scary things (wait. That creature's missing part of his lower jaw. Ewwwww), and she has this cute boy (who she _swears_ she should know more) watching over her and protecting her (where is he when she needs him most?).

Now that she was terrified and trying to think of things to occupy her mind, she was feeling extremely awake, much more than usual, and felt like she might actually be able to negotiate her way out of this situation. Something within her told her that she was much better at forcing her way out of situations, and that negotiating may not be the best idea in the world, but she ignored that part of her and decided to do it anyway.

"Um, sir," she began timidly, tapping her leg with her fingertips because she couldn't move anything else, "are you sure you want to eat me?"

She inwardly chastised herself. Sir? Seriously? Was that really how to begin negotiations with the hostile party? She was better off keeping her mouth shut.

"Sir? Seriously?" the creature mused. Oh, deja vu. "Sorry lass, but," and it whispered this part as if it were a _huge_ secret, "I'm a girl."

Kagome paled. Definitely not the best way to begin negotiations.

"Well, uh, _ma'am_, are you sure you want to eat me?"

"Quite sure."

It reopened what was left of its mouth and was about to toss Kagome inside when the young priestess suddenly shouted "Wouldn't you rather eat some guys? I mean, you are a girl. Don't girls like you get kicks out of stuff like that?" Needless to say, she regretted that the moment it exited her mouth, too. At least it kept her from being devoured, for the creature paused and slowly shut its mouth without the teenage girl inside. It gave her a look, as if asking her to continue.

"Uh, yeah. My travelling companions, they're both guys. Young, not quite full-fledged adults, if you know what I mean. Still nice and, uh, juicy?" Kagome winced at what came out of her mouth before laughing nervously. She was _totally_ condemning her companions to death by strange skeletal creature. "A lot more meat on them, too."

"Are they virgins?"

Kagome's eyes bugged. Was this thing asking for some screwed up version of an offering? As if she knew anything about their love lives! Ugh! She didn't even want to _think _about that. She managed to squeak "Dear gods, I hope so. I mean yes! Yes, they are" without puking.

"Hmmm. Then I'll eat you first, then eat them" the creature planned, once more opening its giant maw.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Stop! No! If they see my remains in you they'll kill you for sure! The best thing to do is to pretend to help them find me, and get them when they're least expecting it!"

The creature pondered for a moment before slowly nodding it's (_her_ Kagome reminded herself) head. It carelessly tossed Kagome aside and began making its way out of the cave. A few steps away, it turned to face the wincing girl and grinned its promise of return, then once again headed towards the exit.

"Oh no" Kagome moaned, shutting her eyes and rubbing the back of her head. During her little flight her cranium collided with the cavern's craggy surface and it was currently throbbing like no other. Her vision grew hazy just as she felt something sticky upon her fingers. She lowered her hand only to see them covered with a very thin layer of fresh blood, and she could only muster enough energy to groan in defeat before crumpling to the ground completely and shutting her eyes.

"Where's that Inuyasha when I need him?" She paused. "Wait. Who's Inuyasha?"

"This is where the trail ends" Riku murmured, getting off Shou and stepping onto the graveyard's cold, hard earth. Sora moved to stand beside him and shivered at the chilly atmosphere surrounding the place. Maybe stopping in this world wasn't the best idea. He should have known that Halloween Town would be nothing but trouble, especially so early in their travels and so soon after Kagome's awakening. Not to mention, he _hated _graveyards.

"Come on, Sora. We need to find where the trail picks up again."

Sora nervously chewed on his bottom lip and nodded, summoning his keyblade for safety's sake. He held onto Shou as he walked just for good measure. The cemetery was really creepy. A strange, curled hill caught his eye and he looked up to gaze at it in awe. Curiosity got the better of him, and the young brunette started to make his way towards it.

"Whoa!" he cried when his foot met empty air, and he flailed his arms and grasped on to Shou with all his might as he plummeted into a dark pit. Riku heard his shout and raced to Shou's side. Sora dangled precariously from the feline's muscled foreleg and kicked furiously at the side of the hole trying to find a foothold. The older male grasped Riku's arm and both teen and feline pulled together to hoist Sora back on solid ground.

Sora tried desperately not to kiss the dirt from his current position on his stomach. He'd never been so happy to be on solid ground in his life.

"Good job Sora" Riku panted, standing up and dusting off his pants.

"What?" the brunette gasped, rolling onto his back and staring at the dark, eerie sky.

"You've found our trail."

"I did?" He sat up and stared into the hole to see countless yellow eyes staring back at him. "I did."

Before they knew it, they were surrounded by an ocean of heartless, and in their midst was a hulking creature that looked like the skeletal remains of Godzilla. Strangely, part of its lower jaw was missing.

"Where's Kagome?" Riku demanded, and the creature tilted its head in confusion. In its eyes was a maniacal glee that only served to piss Riku off. This was not what he needed at the moment.

"Kagome? Who's Kagome?"

Sora scowled at that and tightened his grip on his keyblade while Riku growled under his breath.

"Here's our chance to kill an evil, man-eating zombie" he joked. Sora's scowl deepened.

"Who said I ever _wanted_ to kill one? The thing's going to make my keyblade reek of rotting guts! I just want to smack it a few times" he argued.

"Clean your keyblade when we're done. You're going to have to clean it eventually anyway."

"With what?"

"I don't know. Your shirt? Didn't the fairy godmothers charm it or something?" Riku reasoned. The creature stared at them in confusion, but the heartless inched closer and closer to them. In fact, the little black things were getting a little too close for comfort.

Sora whined "Ew! I'm not cleaning it with my shirt!"

Riku summoned his keyblade when the heartless closed in on them even more, and narrowed his eyes as he thought of how to reach the skeleton mingled within them.

"Then deal with it" he grunted as he charged straight into the first heartless and sliced it in half. A holy spell glittered on his fingertips, and he swiped at the surrounding heartless with it. They burst in a flurry of white light, leaving Riku standing alone in a small clearing, dark matter raining upon his rigid form. The skeleton gazed at him hungrily, its mouth watering slightly, and he smirked before charging again.

"Sora, watch my back" he commanded. Sora grinned and nodded, racing after his silver-haired friend and hacking at any heartless that tried scratching at Riku's back. The area flashed an electric blue with a profound crash and dozens of heartless crumbled into pieces of shattered stone. Shou roared, and much to the two teen's awe, several of the heartless turned against each other and attacked their own ranks. Sora laughed and kept guarding Riku's back.

By the time they reached the skeletal thing, most of the heartless had fallen under Shou's crowd control while the others had fled for shelter, leaving them alone with the annoyed being ahead of them.

"You know, its kind of sad when the cat is better at this killing thing than we are" Riku playfully mourned. Shou sat on his haunches and proudly lifted his head, roughly smacking a heartless with his tail and destroying it when the small, dark creature tried sneaking up on the coeurl from behind.

Sora readily agreed.

"I was going to be nice and offer to help you find the girl, but I'm having second thoughts about that now" the creature growled. Sora smiled at it and waved his hand in dismissal.

"We weren't going to accept your help anyway, so no worries."

At this, the creature snarled and charged, plowing through the gravestones and shattering them in its tantrum. Both teens paled at the force of its fury and nervously glanced at each other. Maybe pissing the thing off wasn't the smartest thing they'd ever done, and maybe pissing it off wasn't a great way to start off the battle. All those poor gravestones!

"A-any spells you think might be useful?" Sora stuttered, a holy spell already lightening the tips of his fingers. Riku summoned a large ball of flame into his own hand and readied himself for the impending clash. Guess they'd find out.

Just before the collision, Sora noticed a slight, unnatural glitter shimmering in the air around the creature and quickly stopped his holy spell. Riku realized what it was just as he released the orb of flame, and he quickly tackled Sora to the ground with a string of profanity twirling out of his lips. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a head of black hair popping out of the pit from which the heartless appeared. Kagome. The fire spell bounced off of the creature's reflect and headed straight towards her, much to Riku's dismay. He wouldn't be able to reach her or cast a spell around her in time to save her.

As the creature continued storming through the graveyard, it crashed into a particularly large tombstone and a portion of it, glowing and white and looking suspiciously like a piece of Kagome's soul, went soaring through the air and smacked Kagome right in the head. It knocked her off the edge of the hole and she plummeted back down just before the fire hit where her hands were. The hole glowed with an iris burning light, and when the light had faded the creature was gone.

"Uh... Kagome?" Sora called, getting up and crawling over to the pit. Riku trailed behind and they both peeked over right as Kagome groaned and rubbed her head.

"Watch it, would you? I've already hit my head enough times today. I don't need a concussion" she grumbled. Riku laughed, to relieved that she was alive to care about her slight injuries. He lowered his hand, and Kagome grabbed it with a pout.

"Come on. We still have a few more worlds to visit" he chuckled. Shou and Kagome snorted at the same time.

"Right," she huffed, "but I am _through_ with the head knocking."

Riku grinned. "Of course."

To Be Continued


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movie produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue. The plot is also based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. The plot will eventually begin to differentiate from the manga/anime written by CLAMP, so don't sue for that either.

**My Story's Ending**

Chapter 9

firefox369

Kagome gazed out at the desert surrounding the city, watching as the winds blew through the sand and kicked up small drifts of the grainy particles. Something about this place was wrong. Something was off, but she couldn't quite figure out what. Ever since they landed on Agrabah a few days ago, she felt some strange feeling tugging at her heartstrings. The sensation was unnerving, but not unwelcome.

The dust neared the city, and then blew through it. She shut her cerulean eyes in the force of the wind and felt it whip through her hair. She couldn't stop the smile that came to her face as the dust and sand brushed against her face, the grainy texture seemingly wiping off a layer of debris she didn't know existed. Despite the loud, obnoxious merchants and the doe-eyed orphans, Kagome loved the palace town (she loved the large expanse of desert even more, but the thought of wandering around in it alone made her forget that).

"Kagome?"

The young miko turned to look at her silver haired companion. Riku stood from his seat on a large violet pillow and made his way to his side, stepping over and around the object placed haphazardly in the room. When he was finally at her side, he gazed at her worriedly and placed a hand on her forehead.

"You've been acting a little strange lately."

Kagome smiled and lowered her eyes with a small blush on her cheeks before continuing to stare at the golden sands and sapphire sky. With a sigh, Riku shifted his weight to one side and peeked out the large hole in the wall, trying to see what she was seeing. To his left, a ragged purple cloth billowed gently in the breeze.

"I can feel something here," she explained. "Something is calling out to me, Riku."

The young man schooled his face into a mask of indifference, trying not to let the guilt show on his face as Sora's question from weeks ago floated into his mind. _What if she doesn't want to come back?_ He spared her a glance from the corner of his eyes and began to step away from the window. Just as the silver-haired male took one step away from the ledge, Kagome leaned over it so that her entire torso hung out the large opening. He moved to grab onto her, alarmed, but stopped when he saw the serene smile on her face.

"I feel..." she whispered, stepping even closer to the large hole a little more so the wind could brush against more of her body.

Riku took a step closer to her and gently held onto her waist anyway. If she wasn't careful she could easily tip over the edge of the floor and plummet to her death. "You feel?" he asked softly, and the young miko opened her eyes to stare at the young man, a strange hollowness seemed to suck the light out of them.

"I feel so awkward" she sighed, "as if I don't belong here."

A sudden pang clenched Riku's chest, but he quickly schooled his expression into one of slight confusion. _She feels that way because she's supposed to be dead. _The coeurl curled up in the corner of the room looked up at her words and gazed at Riku accusingly. The teenager ignored its piercing stare.

"What do you mean?" he questioned innocently, stepping close behind her and gently placing his hand on the small of her back. The action made Kagome's already tired posture slump even more.

"Ah, here you guys are. I've been looking for you all day! I wanted to introduce you to- Oh. You're busy."

The couple turned towards the brunette young man, both unconsciously faking smiles as he approached. The coeurl purred in greeting.

"No, we're not busy" Riku said. Kagome nodded in agreement. "Who did you want us to meet, Sora?"

Sora laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Aladdin and Jasmine. They're the king and queen of this place. I met them the last time I came here, so I thought I'd go say 'hi' to them now that I'm back. It's been a while and I kind of want to see how they're doing. And I want to introduce you two."

Riku shrugged. "I'm perfectly fine with meeting your friends. What about you, Kagome?"

The miko pointedly glanced at the bustling market streets outside the window with fascinated eyes and grinned. "Of course! Come on, Shou!" she cried excitedly, quickly pulling the ragged cloth back over the opening in the clay wall and hurrying out of the small, messy room. Shou snorted and slowly got up before lazily trotting after her.

"Wait Kagome! You don't know your way around these streets!" Sora called, frantically racing after the young girl. Finally alone, Riku allowed the smile to drop off his face and he sighed. He gently massaged his aching temples and swallowed nervously. The more portions of her soul they recovered, the more Kagome was becoming her former self and the more memories she regained. The time when Kagome would realize that she had already died and that Riku had brought her back due to his own selfishness was approaching far too quickly, but he also knew that it was necessary. He could not decide when she lived and when she died for her, he knew that.

"Kagome, watch your head!"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and Kagome's yelp of pain. Alarmed, Riku bolted out of the room and ran down the stairs two at a time only to come across the trio halfway down. Kagome was whimpering and sitting on the ground with her forehead in her hands as Sora fussed over her like a mother hen. Standing off to the side was the coeurl. The feline watched the scene with an amused flick in its ribbon-like tail.

"I told you to watch your head!" Sora chastised, trying desperately to pry Kagome's hand off her forehead.

Riku glanced above the two and saw an enormous wooden beam stretching across the small hallway. Not surprisingly, it was just low enough that Kagome could run into it and just hidden enough to cause some damage if someone wasn't careful.

"Come on, Kagome! Let me see it!" Sora whined. The young woman was actually surprisingly strong considering how long she'd been sleeping.

"Sora, sit!" she grumbled, "Your shouting is making my head hurt more!"

The silver-haired boy sighed and shook his head. He may not be able to decide when she lived and died, but at the rate she was going she wouldn't last the week. He took comfort in knowing that (if he were more diligent in his efforts) he would be able to keep her from harm.

"I'm not a dog, Kagome" Sora huffed, crossing his arms and turning his nose upwards. Kagome blinked and looked at the brunette keyblade master in confusion.

"Wait. Why did I just tell you to sit?"

"Kairi, we'll go over magic today."

Kairi sighed in relief and stretched out her aching limbs. Although magic training was difficult in its own right, Yuffie's physical conditioning was beyond brutal and the red-haired girl wasn't sure how much more of it she could handle. She began physical training with Yuffie just a week or two ago and her entire body was ready to fall apart.

"Will I be practicing more healing magic with Aeris, Merlin?" she questioned. Out of all of her teachers, Aeris was by far her favorite. The flower girl was kind, gentle, and awfully powerful. Only Cid was capable of holding that metal rod with the same ease that Aeris could (though that may also be because Cid's own weapon, the spear, is the most similar to the rod).

Merlin shook his head. "How much do you know about Kagome?" he asked.

The girl was confused with the change of topic and hesitantly responded with "Almost nothing."

"Then perhaps today we'll have a short history lesson as well. If you are to join Riku and Sora in reviving Kagome, it's only fair that you know as much as you can about her" Merlin decided. Kairi perked up with excitement and nodded. Oh, she loved history!

"Well, I suppose this will be more of a story than history."

"I like stories, too!" Kairi chirped, trying to contain all of her excitement. Everyone held such a high regard for Kagome and she had no idea why. If Kairi could better understand the person she was saving, then maybe she would also be able to hold the same respect for her as everyone else.

Merlin chuckled and led her into his study. "You see, Kagome used to be an ordinary girl just like you. She lived in a world far from here where there is no magic, no heartless, and no nobodies. She was a very, very happy girl until the day she turned fifteen. How old are you now, Kairi?"

"I'm eighteen."

"Imagine yourself three years ago and pretend today is your birthday. In ten minutes, you will be thrust into a completely different world, and by the end of the day you will have encountered several near death situations."

"How is that even possi-"

"Ah, I'm not done yet Kairi" Merlin mused. "You also find out that demons are real, and a large centipede demon rips a hole in your side."

Kairi paled and winced.

"Unlike you, Kairi, all of Kagome's decisions were made for her. Unlike the rest of us who can take steps to change our destinies, Kagome's fate has been predetermined and she has not even an inkling of a chance to avoid it. She was forced to learn how to fight, use her magic effectively, watch all of her companions die, and take part in our war against the heartless and nobodies. Though she is powerful and may seem to behave as randomly as nature, she has no freedom."

The young girl lowered her gaze and interlocked her fingers. "That's so sad... but at least she has Riku and the rest of us, right? When we bring her back we can stay by her side and lighten her load a little, right?"

Merlin shook his head. Kairi opened her mouth to argue but the old wizard raised a hand and silenced her before she could make a noise. "We may be by her side, but her burden is her own. Even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to share it with the rest of us. We may be trying to help Kagome and we may be her friends, but no matter how many people surround her, she will always be alone whether she's in a bustling city or in the middle of a battle. She has been fighting alone for centuries and because of that has an amazing sense of strategy. You must always keep this in mind when with Kagome, Kairi: Kagome is a dangerous force to be reckoned with. Never question her judgment."

Kagome hurried over to a small booth with several little trinkets in their midst and looked them all over carefully with a diligence she didn't even know she had. One glance told her that they were all fake, but she had no idea how she knew that. Just what was she before she lost her memory?

"My, you're such a beautiful young lady" the vendor commented, "Would you like to buy a trinket? I'll give you half the price!"

"Ah, no. I don't buy fake items" she declined and quickly moved back into the bustling street before the sputtering vendor could retort. Everyone was staring at her, but she didn't notice and continued her way down the street with a happy bounce in her step. This type of atmosphere excited her and made her oddly satisfied.

"Her clothing is that of royalty. Perhaps she came from the palace?" a voice whispered. Curious eyes gazed at Kagome's bouncing form as she made her way from one vendor to the next. Strangely, she bought nothing.

"She cannot be a daughter of the old sultan, Princess Jasmine was his only child" another argued.

"I think he hid her and only made Jasmine public" the first voice decided. "The boss will be interested to know this."

"Let's not consult him. She'll probably be back at the palace by the time we tell him. Let's get her right now!"

The miko stopped in front of a small vendor whose items were spread across a small carpet placed on the dirt road. He had almost nothing to sell, but all the items he did have were absolutely gorgeous and, if her intuition was correct, authentic.

"I'm sorry, these knives are not meant for cooking young lady" the vendor stated, and Kagome pouted.

"Who said I wanted to cook with these?" she huffed, crouching next to the cloth and holding her hand out to touch them. "May I?"

The old vendor's wise, tired eyes gazed at Kagome warily for a few moments before he finally nodded. Immediately, Kagome let her hand hover above each knife on the cloth while scrutinizing them with and intense, cerulean gaze. Her hand stopped above a small, sapphire encrusted dagger and she carefully picked it up.

"You have a good eye, young lady. That dagger is one of a kind. It's said to be from-"

"Across the desert and sea from a royal palace. It belonged to the king's small ward. He gave it to her as a gift and it is charmed with a protective spell" Kagome finished, running her fingers across the hexagonal floral decorations engraved within the wooden sheath. A sudden sadness swelled up within her and she forced down the urge to cry. "This is several hundred years old. How did it end up here?"

"I'd like to know how you knew what it was" the vendor chuckled, taking the dagger and wrapping it up within a silk cloth. His long, white beard trembled with his laughter. The miko sighed and smiled sadly. She was wondering the same thing herself. The longer she was awake and the more she travelled, the more she yearned for the large gaps in her memory to be filled.

"Here" he offered.

Kagome blinked, then furiously shook her head. "I don't have any money, I'm sorry."

The vendor laughed. "No, my dear. As a gift. I may not be a magician, but I can see that you are close to this dagger, and this dagger is close to you."

She graciously took it and bowed her head to the vendor, drawing even more stares from the people wandering in the streets. "Thank you so much, sir."

A blush of embarrassment crept up the old vendor's cheeks and he hurriedly shook his head, trying to the make the young woman stand. "No, no. A person of you status should not be bowing to me. I am not god. Hurry, hurry, sit up."

Kagome obeyed and blinked away the tears in her eyes before standing up. "Thank you again, sir. You don't know how much this means to me." Then again, she didn't even know how much the dagger meant to her herself.

"Eh, you're welcome. Go on your way, now" he shooed, a large grin on his face. Kagome lowered her head slightly again before racing off. Not ten seconds later, she noticed that she couldn't find her companions.

"Riku?" Kagome called, standing on her toes in an attempt to see over the bustling crowd. "Riku, where are you? Sora? Shou?"

She saw nothing and heard no response. Apparently she wandered too far from her group and had gotten separated. Now what was she supposed to do? They said they were going to the palace, so as long as she continued walking towards it she would be there eventually, right? She looked for the palace in the skyline and once she had found it, began making her way towards it and completely disregarding the route she was taking. Not ten steps into a dark alley, there was a sharp pain at the back of her head and her entire vision went dark.

"Sora, you've come back!"

"Aladdin! I missed you!" Sora laughed, waving his arms excitedly as he ran towards the young sultan. "How's Jasmine doing?"

"You know her, Sora. Stubborn as ever. She's actually learning how to fight from the palace guards so she can protect Agrabah better. Lots of thieves and heartless have been running around lately" Aladdin informed, patting his friend's back. "So, you going to introduce me?"

Sora grinned and motioned to the little group. "This is Riku, the friend I was looking for the last time I came by, and then there's Shou. We picked him back a few weeks ago before we started travelling again, and then the girl is-"

Sora paused and stared at the spot Kagome was supposed to be with wide eyes.

"Where's Kagome?" he cried, grabbing his hair and starting yank on it. "Riku! We lost Kagome!"

Shou rolled his eyes and sat down as if to say "Here we go again." Seriously, the brunette could be so clueless some times. The city was safe though, and no one would dare try a kidnapping in the market streets in broad daylight, so the coeurl was sure she was fine. Even Riku had only slight fears of Kagome running off on her own. Considering everything he'd seen of the town when walking through the market, he was sure that Agrabah was as safe as it could get. Aladdin and Jasmine had done well with the town.

"Relax, Sora. I'm sure she's fine" Aladdin comforted. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen to her? She's in the market with no money so it's not like anyone will try to harm her."

"It's not that I'm worrying about, it's her clothes! Her clothes!" Sora shouted. "Her clothes are so much like Jasmine's! Some morons might think she's a princess or something and-"

A letter suddenly dropped from the sky, interrupting the brunette's loud, worried rant. Why wasn't Riku worried about Kagome? He should be!

Aladdin's eyes narrowed when he saw the hawk that had dropped the letter. He knew that hawk very, very well, and just seeing it was making his mood turn very, very sour. It would seem that the gang of stupid, blubbering idiots were at work again.

"If it's from who I think it is, they have Kagome and are trying to hold her ransom" he sighed, facepalming. "You don't have anything to worry about. Give it a day or so and the girl will be able to make it back on her own."

"A day?" Riku laughed, "as if we have a day to just sit around and wait. If they're really that stupid then I'll just waltz in and get Kagome myself."

With that, the silver-haired boy turned around and began to walk towards the market. Shou got up and followed him, knowing that Riku knew he would join him. The two had formed an unspoken bond during the few days that they had been together and now understood each other quite well. Riku needed someone to track Kagome's scent and lead the way. Naturally, Shou was the one who would be able to supply that.

Sora groaned and looked at Aladdin, who simply winked at him.

"Don't worry, I'll send some reinforcements. Those thieves won't know what hit 'em."

To be continued...


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts, Inuyasha_, Disney, or any movie produced by Studio Ghibli and distributed theatrically through the Disney Corporation. Don't sue. The plot is also based loosely off of _Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles _by CLAMP. The plot will eventually begin to differentiate from the manga/anime written by CLAMP, so don't sue for that either.

**My Story's Ending**

Chapter 10

firefox369

_"Look, Kagome!"_

_The miko giggled when a small form crashed into her legs and scrambled up the length of her body. She could feel the redheaded child's small claws poking through the fabric of her clothing as he did so, but she didn't mind at all. Her clothing had gone through much worse treatment and had come out relatively unscathed. Traveling in the Sengoku Jidai was more than just a little rough. Several shards of the Shikon jewel had been retrieved, and ever more demons fell under the purity of her arrows. The cost? Simply a few rips and tears in her shirts and pants. She wasn't quite sure how many outfits she'd gone through since her first trip through the well (she didn't particularly want to know, either), but each lost article of clothing had suffered an honorable death and knowing that made the parting between her and her clothes more tolerable. _

_"What do you have there, Shippo?" she mused, trying not to laugh at the red marker scribbles all over his nose and cheeks. Even though the child was a fox demon and she a miko, she loved the boy with all her heart and would give her life to keep him out of harm's way. Shippo knew that and did everything he could to show that her love was reciprocated. Hell, even Inuyasha knew that the time traveler loved the little boy with the heart of a mother._

_Shippo grunted as he took his last step and perched himself precariously on Kagome's left shoulder. His tiny clawed hand gently pressed against the top of Kagome's head as he balanced himself, and then he thrust a piece of parchment in front of Kagome's face. "I drew you something!"_

_Kagome plucked the paper from his hold and held it out at arms length, turning it this way and that as she playfully scrunched her face into a look of confusion._

_"What is it? I can't tell what it is" she murmured, flipping the paper upside down and looking down her nose at it._

_"It's a heart!" the boy whined, taking the paper back and huffing._

_Kagome laughed and poked his forehead before pecking his cheek. He released a soft grunt of disgust and roughly rubbed his cheek with his sleeve, trying to make it _very clear_ that he was _not happy_ with her and that very soon he was going to throw a mini tantrum and ignore her._

_"Aw, Shippo, I was just kidding. It's a beautiful drawing, and I can tell that you've been working very hard again to make it for me."_

_The frustration began to drain from Shippo's small body when he heard the honesty in her voice, but he really wanted to throw a tantrum so he continued to ignore her._

_"Can I have it?" she asked._

_Shippo shook his head._

_"Can I trade for it?"_

_Kagome saw his pointed ears twitch at the word 'trade' and she inwardly giggled._

_"How about," here she paused, trying to draw out his excitement, before suggesting "one certain piece of art by a certain little kitsune for a box of pocky."_

_"Strawberry?"_

_"Of course."_

_Shippo caved and handed her the drawing. He looked at the miko expectantly. Kagome grinned._

_"Now, go wash your face. You got marker all over it again. I'll give you your pocky once you get back."_

_"Ehhhhhhh?" Shippo cried in horror, furiously rubbing his cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me sooner Kagome?"_

_Kagome laughed as he hopped off her shoulder. "Because you're so cute, Shippo. Why else?"_

_The fox demon scowled and stuck his tongue out at her before running towards the nearby stream to give his face a thorough scrubbing. After he was gone, Kagome took off her large yellow backpack and dug around its massive space in order to find a folder. When she found it she carefully took it out and opened it._

_"The brat gave you another picture, huh?"_

_She didn't need to turn around to know that the golden eyed hanyou had once again snuck up on her. After all, only he had the audacity to call her almost-son a brat._

_"Inuyasha, you know you're just jealous of all the attention I give him" she reasoned, straightening out the paper Shippo gave her. Even though the hanyou was a few feet behind her, she could still hear his soft, telltale "Feh." With a sigh and a shake of her head, she fondly slid the newest addition to her growing gallery into the folder and lovingly replaced it to its small niche in her monstrous yellow pack._

_..._

Kagome pounded her fists on the metal bars of her cell before angrily grasping the steel and pulling with all her might. Just who did these people think they were? How dare they capture her and lock her up in this little cage! She'd slain Naraku and killed countless demons. As if some puny little humans with a wire box were going to be able to hold her back! For a moment she paused in her escape efforts and pondered what had just run through her mind. Naraku? Demons? Puny little humans? Where the hell did those thoughts come from?

However, the poor man on guard duty sighed in relief when she stopped screaming, jolting her mind out of its tangent and putting it right back where it started. _Now, where was I? Oh, right._

"Oi!" she hollered "Let me out of here! I have stuff to do and people to meet. They won't be happy when they find out you guys took me!"

One of the men standing outside her cell rolled his eyes and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. If he'd known that the girl had lungs the size of Agrabah he wouldn't have suggested kidnapping her. After dealing with her constant shouting and screaming for the last two hours, he was finally beginning to feel the onset of a major migraine. Simply put, he was not amused.

"Hey! Fatty! I'm talkin' to you!"

And to think he had to survive this for another three hours. He wasn't even fat! In fact, he was actually quite slim and fairly well built for his 30 years of age. Granted how gaunt he looked was probably a result of malnutrition and his muscles only looked big because he looked like a walking stick, but that would all change really soon. When Aladdin and Jasmine showed up to pay the money they demanded for the girl, everything would be perfect. He would never go hungry again. Ever.

"OI! Stop ignoring me!"

But until the sultan came and paid the ransom, this was going to be a really, _really_ rough day.

...

Riku stared at the large expanse of sand, Shou standing faithfully at his side. He didn't know the area well, and those thieves could very well be hiding Kagome anywhere in the desert. Where was he supposed to start his search?

The coeurl, as if reading his thoughts, huffed and raised its stout muzzle to the wind and took one, long whiff. Afterwards it growled and began to trot into the desert, its black nose stuck to the air. Riku smiled at it and began to follow. Soon they were racing into the desert. Then, Riku was atop the coeurl. Moments later, the shadow of a flying carpet overcame them.

"We'll have to hurry if we want to save her. The desert are cold at night" Aladdin explained, grinning encouragingly at the two young heroes.

Hearing his words, Shou sped up and ran faster than even the coeurl himself knew he could run. Their shadows were already lengthening in the light of the setting sun, and Kagome was waiting for them.

...

"God _damn _it! God damn _you_! God damn _you_ and your _wife_ and your _mom_ and your _children_ and your _damned_-"

"Shut up!" he finally cried, whirling around and stomping over to the cage. His trembling finger pointed at the girl accusingly. "I've had enough of your screeching, girl. Shut up or-"

"Or what?" she taunted, a smug look on her face. She reached between the bars with her hand and patted the man's cheek.

The guard sneered and slapped her hand away from him. Even if he couldn't do anything to hurt her, he could sure as hell try to scare her into being quiet. At this point he was willing to do anything if only to have five minutes of silence. That was all he wanted. Five minutes.

"As soon as the boss gets here, you're probably going to be killed. That's right. You'll be dead!"

Much to his dismay, the girl simply shrugged. "You're a terrible liar, you know that? You said that people were going to pay a ransom, but in order for them to pay you they'd want to see me all nice and alive. If your little boss man killed me before he got the money, then all your efforts would go POOF! Right into thin air. What would the point in kidnapping me be then, huh? You'd have murder on your hands and very upset people after you, and you wouldn't even get the money!"

His mouth opened and shut like that of a fish out of water. Educational standards within high class families must have skyrocketed the last few years. Either that or their children were going through trials by fire to get the fear knocked straight out of them and their problem solving skills drilled straight into them. Couldn't this girl tell that she was a prisoner? Clearly she needed to be shown exactly how bad her current situation was because she wasn't reading the scene _at all_. So, he reached between the bars, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her arm as far outside of the cage as he could. The young miko's fragile body swung forward and slammed into the thick steel with a resounding crash.

Kagome yelped when her body hit the bars and a piercing sting penetrated her ribs. As the pain shot up her spine, the image of a gigantic centipede invaded her darkening vision. A huge, pale centipede with a human face laughed and giggled at her pain, and in its hand was a beautiful, pink jewel. _The shikon no tama._ Kagome wasn't sure how she knew the name of the orb, or why she was seeing these memories _now_ of all times, but knowing that perhaps the head knocking and the jarring was happening _so she could get her memories back_ made her feel better about all of her recent mishaps.

The bandit guard watched in horror as the girl's eyes rolled back and her body crumpled to the ground. She landed on her knees, held up only by the strong grip he had on her forearm. Blood ran down the pale skin of her stomach and stained the lighweight cloth of her loose pants. Horrified, he released the girl. Clanging to the gound, as if taunting him, was an ornate dagger, partially unsheathed. How had they not seen the blade on the girl when they were throwing her into the cage? How could they have possibly missed such a dangerous weapon? The girl was dead now because of their stupidity! Dead!

_Dead._

The word echoed in his mind, frightening him, teasing him, and torturing him. What was he supposed to do in this situation? They never went over what to do if something like this happened during orientation! The didn't go over it in training, either!

Terrified and unsure, the gangly man ran out of the room to find his superiors. It never crossed his mind that the girl might _actually _die if he didn't tend to her immediately. Nor did he notice that one of the candles had been knocked over in his frantic rush to the door.

To Be Continued...

Hey guys! I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to post _something_ considering its been a really long time... Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry again!


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